It’s not a secret that customers are the live wires of any business; organizations will do everything they can to ensure that they treat their customers like kings. They put different strategies in place to ultimately retain these customers. However, serious businesses also know that all customers are not created equal.
Customers are aware that businesses now offer VIP treatments to certain customers who are deserving. While every customer would wish you treat them specially; this is just impossible judging by the fact that all customers do not make an equal contribution to your business.
What are VIPs?
Defining a VIP in one sentence is going to be a very difficult job. Everyone recognizes that VIPs are your most important or most valuable customers, but the term important or valuable is relative.
To fully understand who a VIP is, you need to go deeper than just using relative terms. The pertinent question therefore is, how do businesses, especially eCommerce, recognize VIP customers? How do you differentiate them from regular customers?
How to Identify VIP Customers?
While individual businesses may set different metrics on what makes a VIP, some fundamental indicators point out VIP customers.
Multiple Purchases: this is a key indicator that signals a VIP customer. If your analytics point out customers who make repeated purchases overtime or who frequently visit your store to make purchases, you may have to look at the value of such purchases
Average Order Value: this is closely related to multiple purchases. That a customer buys in high volume does not necessarily translate into high value. If you juxtapose customers who make repeated purchases of low margin items with the ones who make high average order value, you will agree that the former does not need to be on your VIP list.
Rate of Returns: when you have customers buying high volume and value, it is inevitable that returns will happen. However, you might not wish to have a VIP who frequently returns orders. Every business owner certainly wants to keep track of these KPIs. From the metrics enumerated above, it is a daunting task to be able to capture every single variable needed to guide you.
If you sign up on Clarobi, you take advantage of our automated customer segmentation features. You need not worry about how to identify your VIPs from your numerous customers. Clarobi automatically does this using customer lifetime value to help you sift out customers with potentially high value from your sea of customers.
Using the various KPIs identified above; we help you keep track of your customers behavior so that you can move away from the realm of guesswork when drawing up your strategies.
Strategies to Keep VIP Customers Happy
Although there are no inviolable rules on how to keep VIP customers happy, however, some strategies are more effective. You will find the under listed strategies quite invaluable.
Offering Exclusive Discount is one way to reward customers’ loyalty. Customers find discount quite rewarding, more so when they perceive that the discount is exclusive recognition of their status, it brings a feeling of importance and being valued.
This further builds customer loyalty. The use of promo codes is a useful way to tap into existing customers e-commerce experience.
Online Events: Whatever industry you play in, there are certain categories of customers that deserve to be celebrated via special events. You have to be conscious and intentional in your decisions to make your VIP customers feel special and valued. Use of special events allows you to express your gratitude as well.
A VIP event besides the aforementioned serves other important purposes of building or cementing relationships. It would help if you worked out such events that will create personalized experience carefully—an opportunity to test new products, gold class movie tickets etc.
Whatever you decide on must be targeted to increase their VIP status and convey your gratitude for their unflinching loyalty. Have it at the back of your mind that you are not just creating an event but an experience.
Use of Gift and Pecks: one great way to reward your VIP customers is to offer gifts. A thoughtful gift is another way to say thank you. The gift can be your company branded souvenir or something different from your products. The most critical aspect of giving a gift is your ability to align them to the client's personal values.
With the stiff competition out there and all businesses trying to outdo the other offering gifts and pecks, it becomes an added advantage to know the gift options that really appeal to your specific customer demographic. The thoughtfulness behind the gift matters far more than its monetary value.
Conclusion
You have discovered that all customers are not born equal, it will therefore be wrong to lump them all together. Your ability to segment your customers to retain your best-performing ones is critical to how well your business will thrive. It would be best if you were deliberate in recognizing and celebrating your VIP customer to continue to enjoy their patronage.