Buyer or consumer loyalty is the holy grail of B2C and B2B. The average B2B brand gets 30% of its total revenue from loyal customers.
Numerous well-researched strategies provide fruitful results – but brands need to measure the success to maximize the potential of buyer loyalty strategies. Plus, there are benefits of going further to ensure loyalty programs are working – acquiring a customer is 25 times more expensive for a brand, but successfully retaining loyal ones can increase profits by up to 95%.
The revenue lies with loyal customers, and the success of retaining loyal customers lies with measuring the success of strategies. Read on to find out how B2B brands do it.
Using B2B Customer Loyalty Programs
Every B2B brand should have a functional tiered customer loyalty program – 73% of buyers see it as a way of brands showing loyalty to them, rather than vice versa. Marketers disagree – 66% think it’s a way for buyers to show their loyalty to the brand. Still, whatever way you look at it, the rewards speak for themselves. 43% of buyers spend more with businesses they’re loyal to, and marketers see a 20% increase in sales when using personalized sales tactics like rewards programs.
It’s essential to find a tiered B2B rewards program that creates structured rewards for long-term loyal customers – you can click here to see an example. Individual and personalized rewards are the far superior option to a set reward plan that applies to all. That allows brands to see which buyers are spending the most and where the sales originate from – thus, brands can target the clients spending less.
Net Promoter Score
Net promoter scores (NPS) are a great way of tracking buyer engagement and habits. Bear in mind – 83% of buyers will be willing to refer to a B2B brand after a successful transaction, and 78% of referrals create viable business opportunities. As the saying goes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and reviews and opinions go a long way in the business world.
NPS looks at one question – how likely is a buyer to refer your business to a friend. Buyers can score a company between 0-10. To get the final score, calculate everyone that scored a 9 -10 and subtract the percentage of buyers who scored 0-6. Those scoring 9-10 are called promoters, and the 0-6 scorers are detractors.
Customer Lifetime Value
Customer lifetime value (CVL) is an essential benchmark for customer loyalty success. Both B2B and B2C brands can benefit greatly from tracking the CVL. The simplest way to calculate the CVL is to look at the average value of orders and multiply it by the number of purchases in a year – then multiply it by the average retention time. That sum will give brands the average lifetime value of a customer.
By measuring the CVL, brands can measure the exact value of a segment of customers. Sales teams can then influence and manipulate the results by ensuring a positive sales experience – something 77% of buyers felt they didn’t have during their last purchase.
There are other metrics to consider – upsell ratios, conversion rates, and sales cycle lengths are just a few to think about. These vital metrics give brands a clear view of their customer’s journey, experiences, and opinions. All can elevate a business’s chance of creating a positive buying cycle.
