Updated
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March 29, 2024

5 Types of Customers in eCommerce and how to address them with your Loyalty Program

Ellie Bradford
March 29, 2024

Discover the 5 types of eCommerce customers and how to tailor your loyalty program to meet their needs. Learn strategies to enhance engagement and boost retention.

Reward Strategy

Online shopping is convenient. Customers who are enamored with eCommerce spend countless hours researching products. Popular quotes  like "shopping is therapy" or "shopping is a hobby" highlight just how fixated people can be. For eCommerce business owners, it is vital to cater to different types of customers, ensuring your products and services are to keep them engaged and motivated to make purchases. Particularly in the climate of the attention-span deficit we find ourselves in today. 

How familiar are you with your consumers?

To succeed in eCommerce, it's essential to have an understanding of your target audience. Today's consumers expect a personalized and tailored buying experience. By directing your messaging and website offerings to specific customer types, you can create a deeper connection between them and your products and brand.

Whether your website is thriving or struggling to reach your ideal customers, incorporating knowledge about your shop-visitors into your eCommerce strategy is crucial. It will help your online efforts, resulting in increased traffic, higher conversions, customer-driven product development, and growth opportunities.

eCommerce Customer Segmentation and How to Address them through Loyalty

Some customers enjoy browsing before buying, while others have a focused approach with a set shopping list. As a retailer, you cannot rely on one type of customer. Each shopper has different buying patterns and priorities. Just like you, as a retailer, have your own pattern when choosing products to sell. Common categories of eCommerce customers are also relevant for your loyalty program. You need to find out how to cater to each type to increase conversions in your business.


Here are the 5 types of customers and how to address them with your loyalty program

  1. Price-sensitive customers
  2. Convenience-oriented customers
  3. Experience-seeking customers
  4. Brand-loyal customers
  5. Impulse buyers

Loyalty programs can help eCommerce businesses attract and retain all of these types of customers. By offering rewards such as discounts, exclusive offers, and special perks, businesses can incentivize customers to keep coming back. Additionally, loyalty programs can personalize the shopping experience and make customers feel valued, which can help build brand loyalty. Here's how each type of customer can be targeted with a loyalty program:

  1. Price-sensitive customers: Offer tiered rewards based on the amount spent, so these customers can see the potential savings from continued purchases.
  2. Convenience-oriented customers: Offer perks such as free shipping, early access to sales, and expedited customer service.
  3. Experience-seeking customers: Offer unique and memorable rewards, such as VIP access to events or exclusive experiences.
  4. Brand-loyal customers: Offer rewards that reinforce their connection to the brand, such as early access to new products or personalized recommendations.
  5. Impulse buyers: Offer short-term, high-value rewards for quick, impulsive purchases to encourage repeat behavior.

6 Ways your brand can encourage Loyal Customers

Knowing your customer segmentation strategy is all well and good. But, without really understanding what it takes for your brand to build loyal customers, you won’t see much improvement. That’s why we will provide you with the key ingredients for building customer loyalty:

  1. Providing excellent customer service: This includes being friendly, helpful and responsive to customer needs.
  2. Offering high-quality products or services: Loyal customers expect consistent quality, so it’s important to deliver on this aspect.
  3. Creating a personalized experience: Personalizing interactions, offers and promotions can help build a strong connection with customers.
  4. Establishing trust and transparency: Being transparent in business practices and building trust with customers is crucial for retaining loyalty.
  5. Encouraging customer engagement: Encouraging customers to provide feedback, participate in loyalty programs or events can help foster a sense of community and deepen their connection to the business.
  6. Being consistent: Consistently delivering on promises, maintaining the same high level of service, and providing a positive customer experience are key components of building loyalty.
6 Ways your brand can encourage Loyal Customers

Expert Customer Segmentation for Tailored Communications & Loyalty

Now, we’ve highlighted how important it is for eCommerce businesses to understand the different types of customers they serve, in order to cater to their needs and build loyalty. By incorporating buyer personas into their eCommerce strategy, it can help to optimize their online efforts and drive growth.

Loyalty programs, with targeted rewards for each type of customer, can incentivize customers to keep coming back. As mentioned above, building loyal customers involves a combination of factors whether it be improving your customer service offering or simply personalizing your customer experience. Consistency is key to succeed in this consumer-driven approach. By putting in the effort to understand and serve customers, eCommece businesses can increase customer satisfaction and drive repeat purchases. Get Started Now.