Customer experience can make or break your business. After all, 84% of companies that prioritize the customer experience see a boost in revenue.

It’s well-established that your most valuable customers are going to be the buyers who keep returning — the same people who are very likely to talk about how great your business is to their wider network and, in turn, help expand your customer community.

So what keeps customers coming back? And how can your business proactively make that happen?

Here, we’ll be covering the 10 best strategies for ensuring that you’re meeting (and exceeding) your customers’ expectations so that you can maximize profits.

Suggested reading: Leveraging your customer community's participation may be the competitive advantage you’re missing… learn more in our guide to customer knowledge sharing!

1. Create supportive community spaces:

Creating supportive community spaces is another effective way to boost customer lifetime value. These spaces can take the form of online communities, or even physical meeting places. The key is to provide a platform where customers can connect with each other, share their experiences, and seek advice about their profession or how others have used your products.

In these community spaces, customers can engage with your brand while forming valuable connections with one another. By facilitating these interactions, you are fostering a sense of belonging and empowering your customers to become brand advocates. This sense of community will ultimately lead to increased customer loyalty and higher profitability.

Online communities in particular are a convenient way for customers to ask questions, share tips, and troubleshoot issues with the help of a community of like-minded individuals. These platforms can also serve as a repository of knowledge, with users contributing valuable insights and solutions over time.

By bringing customers together in a shared space, you are not only building a community around your brand but also creating a platform for organic word-of-mouth marketing and customer-driven innovation.

2. Creating personal connections within your community:

Building personal connections with your customers is crucial for driving loyalty and repeat purchases. When customers feel valued and connected, they are more likely to return the favor by continuing to buy and engage with your business.

Some surefire ways you can see this through include:

• Leveraging social media platforms to engage with customers online, enable them to interact directly with your business, and share user-generated content.
• Providing personalized support to customers, including omnichannel support to ensure that their queries and concerns are carried across different platforms and channels.
• Organizing events or workshops where customers can interact with your employees and each other, creating a sense of community and belonging.
• Implementing a loyalty program that rewards customers for their continued support, including exclusive discounts, early access to new products, or special perks for loyal customers.

3. Incentivize participation:

What better way to encourage customer participation than by rewarding them for it?

Incentivizing customer participation is a powerful strategy to boost their engagement and increase their lifetime value. Choice incentives include:

• Exclusive rewards
• Special discounts,
• Access to special events
• Loyalty programs

By offering these incentives, you’re also creating a sense of exclusivity and value around your brand, increasing your customer retention and stimulating ongoing revenue streams at the same time.

Furthermore, when customers feel appreciated and rewarded for their engagement, they are more likely to become brand advocates, spreading positive word-of-mouth and attracting new customers to your business. This ripple effect can significantly impact your brand's visibility and reputation in the market.

You should also consider the value of the data you get out of offering customer incentives. Insights into which prove most popular and engaging can help you with devising future CLV-boosting strategies, as well as give you an in-depth look into what your customers truly value.

4. Deliver valuable content and insights:

One surefire way to increase customer lifetime value is by consistently delivering valuable content and insights to your customers.

While this would largely include expert advice, industry trends, and informative resources generated by your teams, you should also be empowering your customers to create and share content as well.

When customers perceive your brand as a valuable source of information, they are more likely to both see you as a thought leader and to want to contribute their insights as well. So you’re effectively educating customers and simultaneously motivating them to foster a self-sufficient and highly engaged community around your business.

Interactive content such as quizzes, polls, or live Q&A sessions are also helpful in enhancing the overall customer experience. By encouraging participation and feedback, you gather valuable insights into customer preferences and only strengthen your growing brand community.

5. Educate and connect with customers:

Education is a powerful tool for boosting customer lifetime value. Invest in educational resources such as webinars, online courses, or workshops that help customers maximize the value they derive from your products or services.

Customer education can also serve as a unique selling point for your brand. When customers perceive that you are invested in their success and growth, they are more likely to remain loyal to your products or services.

Plus, through interactions in webinars or courses, you can gain insights into customer pain points, preferences, and areas for improvement. This direct line of communication with your customers can inform your product development strategies and help you tailor your offerings to better meet their needs.

6. Leverage data for personalisation:

As we’ve called out above, customer data is super helpful for understanding what works and what doesn’t. By harnessing customer data, you can personalize your offerings based on individual preferences, purchase history, and behavior patterns.

Utilize customer relationship management (CRM) systems to track and analyze customer data, allowing you to tailor your marketing campaigns, offers, and recommendations to each customer's specific needs. Personalization not only enhances the customer experience but also increases the likelihood of repeat purchases and upselling opportunities.

7. Implement feedback loops:

On top of data, feedback loops are essential for understanding your customers' needs, preferences, and pain points at every stage of the buying lifecycle. Actively seek feedback from your customers through surveys, focus groups, or social media interactions to get more value-based insights into what they’re looking for out of your business.

This is another area where online communities come in handy. When you have an environment where customers can easily share their feedback and interact with your business, you open lines of communication that can’t be easily achieved elsewhere. Customers are also going to be more likely to give feedback if they can see that others in their community are participating as well.

8. Employ segmentation for targeted engagement:

By dividing your customers into segments based on demographics, purchasing behavior, or preferences, you can create targeted communication and marketing campaigns.

Whether it's sending personalized emails, providing customized recommendations, or offering exclusive promotions, segmentation enables you to speak directly to each customer's unique needs.

On a larger scale, you should be considering how you can personalize as much of the customer journey as possible. If your customers are embedded in an online community platform, ensure that it’s one you can customize to push specific content pieces or announcements depending on the customer’s specific preferences.

9. Adopt flexible membership models:

Offering flexible membership models is a strategic way to provide added value to your customers and increase their lifetime value, through factors like subscription-based models, loyalty programs, or tiered memberships that offer exclusive perks and benefits.

By incentivizing customers to become members, you create a sense of loyalty and exclusivity. These flexible membership models provide ongoing revenue streams and encourage customers to remain engaged with your brand, leading to increased profitability.

10. Integrate technologies that enable community interactions

Technology plays a pivotal role in fostering customer community engagement. Leverage various digital tools and platforms that enable seamless communication and interaction among your customers.

Whether it's a collection of integrated engagement tools or an all-in-one brand-owned platform, it's important to encourage community interactions and empower your customers to connect with each other. By adopting these technologies, you create a vibrant and engaged community that enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately boosting customer lifetime value.

If you want to learn more about online community platforms, and how this technology can be deployed to elevate your community engagement, get in touch with us at Zapnito.