Customer loyalty can be hard to come by. With so many buying options, how can brands encourage repeat sales and turn once-in-a-while customers into loyal ones?

For many, the answer is to use a customer engagement platform that gives you the ability to retain and reward your most loyal customers.

Eighty-three percent of customers say loyalty programs make them more likely to do business with a brand. When customers are loyal, they’re more likely to drive repeat sales, engage with your brand, and rave about your products to friends and family.

Here’s a look at thirty statistics that show just how important customer loyalty is:

General customer loyalty statistics

• U.S. consumers hold 3.8 billion memberships in customer loyalty programs. [Colloquy 2017]
• Memberships in loyalty programs have grown by 15% between 2015 and 2017. [Colloquy 2017]
• Top three reasons for using a loyalty program: Easy to use (53%), gives great discounts (39%), easy to understand (37%) [Colloquy 2017]
• The top reason people abandon loyalty programs: It takes too long to earn a reward (57%). [Colloquy 2017]
• Customers who got a reply to their feedback were 14% more likely to return. [Thanx]
• Customers who are considered “promoters” spend at least 21% more each year are 8% less likely to churn and account for 80-90% of all referrals. [Thanx]
• Retailers hold the biggest piece of loyalty pie with 1.6 billion reward program members. Travel and hospitality sector, including restaurants, holds 1.1 billion members. Grocery stores have 142 million members. [Colloquy 2017]
• If a consumer is loyal to your business, he or she will spend an average of 66% more than customers who aren’t loyal. [Accenture]
• 55% of loyal customers recommend your business to family and friends, and 12% will publicly defend your company on social media. [Accenture]
• A household with an income of $150,000 is 32% more likely to be loyal than those with an income of $35,000. [Facebook]
• A loyal customer who “adores” your brand is more than 11 times as likely to buy more, 17 times as likely to recommend the company, 9 times as likely to try new offerings, 6 times as likely to forgive the company if it makes a mistake, and 10 times as likely to trust the company. [Tempkin Group]
• Customers who provide feedback have a 1.4x higher lifetime value. [Thanx]

Mobile is a must for customer loyalty

• 66% of companies that saw a decrease in customer loyalty over the past year do not have a mobile app. [Apptentive]
• 77% of consumers return to the same brand again and again, but not all of them say they’re “loyal.” Thirty-seven percent of customers who buy repeatedly from a company say they aren’t loyal to it, while 40% of repeat buyers say they are loyal. [Facebook]
• Top four words that brand loyalists use to describe brands they love: Experience, quality, cost, consistency. [Facebook]

Customer loyalty: Millennials vs. boomers

• Millennials love loyalty apps, with 66.3% indicating they’ll shop at a store with a tech-savvy rewards program. [CSA]
• What do millennials want in a loyalty app? Product availability and digital payment options through the app. [CSA]
• What do boomers want in a loyalty app? Product availability and access to coupons. [CSA]
• 61% of millennials use loyalty apps 1-5 times a week, compared to just 48% of boomers. [CSA]
• 47% of millennials say engaging with them in innovative ways to provide a multi-sensory experience influences their brand loyalty. [Accenture]
• Top three incentives for millennials to join a loyalty program: How quickly rewards are earned (43%), the variety of rewards offered (34%), ease of tracking and redeeming rewards (22%). [Software Advice]

Data and analysis for customer loyalty

• The majority of customers (51%) trust loyalty programs with their personal information. [Colloquy 2017]
• 58% of marketers use data to model best customers and identify best audience segments. [Dun & Bradstreet]
• 69% of marketers say they use data to make just about every marketing decision. [Gartner]
• Only 16% of brands describe the data they use to make marketing decisions as “very good.” [Informatica]
• 33% of marketers say data quality is the biggest challenge they face when trying to use it to drive marketing initiatives. [Dun & Bradstreet]
• Top three uses of data: Personalize the customer experience (58%), targeting individual market segments (50%), measuring data-driven marketing initiatives (49%). [Informatica]
• 57% of brands say the biggest challenge they face in data collection is improving the quality of information they collect. [Informatica]
• Top five pieces of customer information that brands find helpful: First and last name (56%), role/title (51%), company name (39%), phone number (31%), industry vertical (27%). [Informatica]
• 72% of companies with high data quality standards are increasing their budget for data-driven marketing. [Informatica]

Wrap up

If you’re ready to focus on customer loyalty, it’s time to check out your options. There are plenty of platforms out there to choose from, but you should look for a data-based customer engagement platform that provides robust data, the ability to communicate 1-to-1 with customers, and a platform that has a frictionless experience for both you and your customers.

See how Thanx can help you grow your business.  Request a demo today.