After you’ve worked hard to attract wholesale customers to your WooCommerce store, the last thing you want is to see them leave after the first purchase. The real work (and reward) lies in learning how to retain customer loyalty and keep bulk buyers coming back. This is exactly what we’ll dive into today.
In this article, we’ll explore the importance of customer loyalty in the wholesale industry and provide actionable tips to help you enhance customer retention. Implementing the tips we’ll outline in this guide will help you build lasting customer relationships to keep your business thriving.
So, if you’re ready to learn, then let’s begin!
What Is Customer Loyalty And Why Does It Matter?
Before diving into how to retain customer loyalty, let’s walk through the basics.
Customer loyalty describes a positive emotional relationship between your business and your customers. Loyal customers will consistently choose you over competitors, regardless of factors like price, convenience, and availability. They’re also more likely to advocate for your brand, recommending you to other customers or sharing positive experiences with others.
In the wholesale industry where building lasting partnerships is key, fostering customer loyalty is even more important. Loyal customers provide a reliable stream of revenue through repeat bulk orders, boosting your bottom line and contributing to the long-term success of your brand.
Why is customer loyalty important?
You’ve heard it time and time again–acquiring new customers can be up to 25 times more costly than retaining existing ones. By focusing your efforts on nurturing existing customers, you can reduce customer acquisition costs, while also enhancing your business’ overall profitability. Consider the following eye-opening statistics:
- Customers spend 43% more on businesses that they are loyal to
- 65% of a company’s sales are from existing customers
- Increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase a business’ profit by 25-95%
Simply put, investing in your existing customer relationships can work wonders for the success and sustainability of your wholesale business!
7 Actionable Customer Retention Strategies To Drive Customer Loyalty
Now that we understand the importance of fostering customer loyalty, it’s time to dive into action! Below we reveal 7 key strategies on how to retain customer loyalty in wholesale.
1. Make onboarding as seamless as possible
Your wholesale onboarding process sets the tone for the entire business relationship, which is why it’s a crucial aspect when learning how to retain customer loyalty. Simplify the process and make it easy for customers to gain access to your wholesale offers.
WooCommerce store owners, for instance, can leverage plugins like Wholesale Lead Capture to create custom B2B registration forms and onboard wholesale buyers easily. It also allows you to automate lead approval and send welcome emails to keep new buyers engaged.
Remember, it’s important to foster trust from the start. Show your potential wholesale customers that you’re a partner they can rely on by:
- Providing helpful resources: FAQs, bulk pricing documentation, how-to guides, and even video tutorials can be helpful for new customers. Make sure you provide clear information about how they can access wholesale prices if they’re not immediately prominent on your website.
- Offering responsive support: Provide several channels such as phone numbers, emails, or live chat to answer any questions or concerns.
- Following up: Sending follow-up emails (or scheduling a phone call) can help you stay top of mind for new customers. If they haven’t made the initial purchase after registration, for instance, you can offer a special welcome discount or address any lingering questions.
2. Understand your current customers
It’s no secret that when you know your customers better, you also serve them better. Consider creating a wholesale customer profile based on your current customer base. This will help you understand their needs, what differentiates them from one-time customers, and how you can improve their overall experience with your brand.
Some key information to assess include their business size, industry, location, and purchasing power. Likewise, understand their purchase history. This can reveal opportunities to create promotions and offerings that match their unique buying patterns and preferences. For example, you might consider offering exclusive discounts on the most frequently purchased items or product categories.
3. Incentivize repeat purchases
If you want bulk buyers to stick around, then it’s important to give them an incentive to keep coming back. The good news is, when it comes to selling wholesale, there are a lot of strategies you can leverage.
For instance, you can offer tiered volume discounts based on customer commitment levels. Plugins like Wholesale Prices Premium, for instance, allow WooCommerce store owners to create multiple wholesale user roles and set custom pricing tiers for each role. This means you can reward your most loyal customers with bigger discounts as their order volume increases, giving them an extra nudge to keep choosing your business.
Some other offers you can set for wholesale customers include free shipping deals, exclusive discounts for certain products (or categories), and special bundle deals.
4. Create a loyalty program
Now if we’re talking about how to retain customer loyalty, then we can’t miss mentioning this tip! According to industry insights, adding a loyalty program to an e-commerce website can increase the average order quantity by a staggering 319%! Fortunately, adding a loyalty program to your e-commerce website is not as complicated as you might think.
For instance, plugins like WooCommerce Loyalty Program Plugin make the process hassle-free and effortless for store owners. With this plugin, you can easily set up a rewards-based loyalty system and gift customers points for every purchase they make. Wholesale customers can then redeem points for coupons and discounts, encouraging them to keep shopping on your website.
5. Engage customers, ask for feedback
Another key strategy to consider when learning how to retain customer loyalty is actively seeking feedback. By showing customers that you value their opinions and suggestions, you can foster trust and build stronger customer relationships. There are several tools you can explore for this, including:
- Using online surveys
- Sending feedback requests via email
- Using live chat software
- Conducting customer interviews or focus group discussions
Of course, it’s just as important to act on the feedback you receive. Show your wholesale customers that their feedback matters by implementing their suggestions. You can communicate these changes through newsletters, email updates, or even personal messages.
6. Offer flexible payment terms
To retain customer loyalty in wholesale, it’s a must to provide flexible payment terms. Remember, bulk buyers are often fellow business owners who deal with cash flow fluctuations. What’s more, their purchases are often substantial in value, making payment flexibility a crucial factor in their decision-making process.
As a store owner, you can leverage plugins like Wholesale Payments to easily offer flexible payment terms to bulk buyers. This WooCommerce plugin allows you to offer B2B payment terms like NET 30/60/90, installment payments, and deposit payments. It also allows you to create custom payment plans, which is beneficial if you want to create customized plans for certain types of wholesale customers.
7. Deliver exceptional customer service
Going the extra mile can delight your customers, but at the end of the day, it’s about meeting their core needs. According to industry research, what truly drives customer loyalty is not necessarily over-the-top efforts, but providing a quick solution to their problems. This highlights the importance of providing stellar customer service–being there for your customers when they need you.
Here are some key tips:
- Provide multiple channels: Make it easy for wholesale customers to reach out to you by providing several touch points such as phone, live chat, email, or ticketing systems. Display this information prominently across your website and your marketing materials.
- Conduct regular check-ins: Being proactive is key when learning how to retain customer loyalty. If you notice that a customer is starting to churn, reach out, seek feedback, or offer assistance when necessary.
- Prioritize quick resolutions: As we’ve mentioned, customers appreciate when companies resolve their issues as quickly as possible. Train your support team to handle common problems. Empowering your customers by giving them self-help resources is also beneficial.
- Simplify your returns process: Having a hassle-free returns and exchanges policy can encourage customers to complete their purchases, knowing they can return or exchange products when needed. This minimizes the perceived risk of buying from your wholesale business and fosters trust.
Conclusion
Having loyal, satisfied customers is what keeps the lights on for any business. However, how to retain customer loyalty and keep bulk buyers coming back may seem like a daunting task. In this article, we’ve simplified everything for you and provided 7 key strategies to help you out with this goal.
To summarize, let’s review these tips below:
- Make onboarding a seamless process
- Understand your customers
- Incentivize repeat purchases
- Create a loyalty program
- Engage customers and ask for feedback
- Offer flexible payment terms
- Deliver exceptional customer service
At the end of the day, it’s about creating a satisfying purchase experience for your bulk buyers. You can leverage tools like Wholesale Suite to make this happen. This set of WooCommerce plugins allows you to manage all aspects of your wholesale operations–from pricing, bulk ordering, lead capture, and payment processing.
Do you have any questions about this topic? Let us know in the comments below.
