Customer Loyalty: Why Is It So Important? [Infographic]

It is always a good day when a new customer buys your product for the first time. It is even better, however, when that random customer becomes a loyal, faithful brand advocate.

Why is customer loyalty so important? We now know that it costs six times more to acquire a new client than to retain an existing one. It is not only about money, though. The way you build and manage loyalty will ultimately uphold the success of your business strategy in the long term.

"Long-term" is the key: Loyalty is not a short-term task. In an age when customers demand more integrated, fulfilling brand experiences, it is utterly wrong to believe that customer retention can be reduced to a traditional loyalty card and random rewards.

The idea of rewarding shoppers for a single purchase may boost your sales in the short term, but it is only by engaging them within an amazing customer journey that you will stay relevant in the long term.

Loyalty, in fact, is not just about products or services. It runs hand in hand with emotions, the result of a constant effort of consistent, positive experiences that involve emotions and lead to satisfaction and advocacy.

This is the very reason why customer loyalty has a strong cause and effect connection with the digital customer experience. Today, with the spread of mobile devices and the pervasiveness of social networks (and word-of-mouth), the focus shifts on the quality of the customer journey. Thus, loyalty has become the real deal for innovative companies.

Loyal customers are not born, they are made. It is what you do (or not do) that determines how many loyal customers you have, and how loyal those customers really are. Never underestimate the power of happy customers; they will always be worth the time and money you have spent to make them happy.

Retention is about adopting a proactive approach to understanding what customers need, and deliver real-time answers. And remember: When you retain a single customer, you are retaining their entire lifetime value.

To sum up the whole story about the importance of customer loyalty, we have chosen an eye-catching infographic by Magnetic North.

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