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A bit of self-indulgence for two minutes if you’ll let me but one of the opportunities for online shops as I see it is the ability to create loyalty and value for your customers. It’s the reason The Boomerang Solution does what it does the way it does it.

This post on retail bulletin re-inforces this idea based on a recent survey from Verdict.

Verdict stresses that sales cannot be grown blindly, and that the key lies in maximising traffic to sites by both attracting and keeping shoppers. With over 31m UK consumers currently shopping online, the key priority for e-retailers is to have much closer relationships with the customers they serve to try and secure their loyalty. This is for two reasons.

Reliance on Google Adwords is the problem for so many online businesses and whilst it makes Google rich and does deliver traffic it only increases our acceptance that this is the industry standard when it’s not.

A healthy balance of advertising can be achieved by building the relationships. The old saying “It’s easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than to get a new one” rings very true.

How you attain loyalty in customers goes back to the basics and relys on your market and customer profile. I personally find that above and beyond great customer service, the informational route really works for me for my online shops. Yes, it takes time to add information-based and educational content, even to the point where it may feel that you are giving it away, but the pay off is much more rewarding and spreads the reliance.

That approach and adding value through loyalty has allowed me to create an opt-in database of over 900 people in 12 months for TS Beauty. Moving forward it makes me much more confident that I can retain customers, rather than pay for new ones, reducing my advertising costs whilst increasing relevant sales.