Customer loyalty is important to your brand, but garnering customer loyalty has changed throughout the years. With Millennials flooding the market as they come of age, you may be wondering how you can earn their trust.
According to a recent study, 97 percent of Millennials stated their loyalty could be earned one way or another by a brand or retailer. Millennials are presented with more shopping choices than any generation before them, making it increasingly difficult for brands and retailers to earn their loyalty. As shoppers, Millennials are keen on convenience, affordability, and quality customer service – in order to bring them on board as customers, your store must embody all three factors.
What Attracts Millennial Buyers?
In the past, added convenience and quality service allowed store owners to inflate the prices of their products with few lost customers. This has changed with the Millennial generation – according to another study, nearly 7 out of 10 Millennials reported price as the determining factor when they consider a purchase. Strong customer service and fast, reliable shipping are excellent ways to attract customers but many Millennials will walk away from a purchase if they can find the same product for a lower price elsewhere.
That being said, there are still factors you can implement to attract Millennial buyers. Roughly 60 percent of Millennials surveyed reported delivery speed as the most important factor when making a purchase, and 48 percent said payment options play a major role.
Overall, low prices will help you attract Millennial shoppers, but fast and reliable shipping, keeping items in stock, and offering easy payment options can help you compensate for higher prices than your competitors. These factors also play a major role in developing loyalty with your Millennial customers
Are Millennials Loyal to Brands or Retailers?
Brands generally play an important role in the purchases of Millennials, but retailer loyalty is growing amongst this generation. In our survey, 56 percent of Millennials indicated strong loyalty to brands, while 36 percent showed loyalty to retailers.
How does this impact your Shopify store? Simple: instead of focusing on retailer loyalty from Millennials, sell brands which already have a strong Millennial following. As Millennials search for these brands, they may develop loyalty to you as a retailer after a number of successful purchases.
Millennials and Distractions
Shopping online presents many distractions to shoppers. They may have other stores open in additional tabs or they may be interrupted from their purchase by a Facebook message or phone call. According to our research, 66 percent of Millennials said they had abandoned a cart in the past year because something else caught their interest. Sometimes these distractions include your competitors.
Competing with distractions is tricky. The best way to minimize Millennial distraction is to give them a shopping experience which demands their attention. Design your store beautifully and offer products and sales which capture the shopper’s attention. If they feel like they are getting a great deal from your store, they may be less likely to venture to your competitors.
The Keys to Millennial Loyalty
Many Millennial shoppers believe retailers and brands are slow to change according to the times. As styles and tech change, so should your inventory and your prices. If you’re behind your competitors, you can expect to lose a large portion of your Millennial shoppers.
Millennial shoppers also expect very responsive customer support. In the age of the internet, most people are only a few clicks away – this applies to business as well as leisure. As Millennials text and message their friends with an almost immediate response, they expect your customer support team to respond with similar speed and gusto. Taking over 24 hours to reply to a customer support request for a Millennial has the potential to drive them away, but very fast customer support responses can quickly garner customer loyalty.
Ultimately, you need to meet Millennials on their terms if you wish to earn their trust. If your store can’t meet their demands, there’s a competitor who will – probably for a lower price and with free shipping. If you want Millennial loyalty, you’ll need to earn it through responsive customer support, reliable and fast shipping, in-stock products (preferably of their favorite brands), and above all: reasonable prices.
