Why honesty and loyalty are so important in e commerce

How do you inspire first-time customers to come back and buy again and again? At the end of the day, customers have the final vote on which businesses succeed, and which ones fail. If they are going to spend money and remain loyal to your brand, they need to feel good about the relationship.

They need to trust your brand. As you look for ways to increase customer loyalty in , consider this simple-but-powerful step: be more transparent. Kirk Donlan is a content marketing manager at Emarsys where he uses his marketing, customer success, and copywriting experience to develop engaging, industry-specific content for marketers and marketing leadership.

Connect with Kirk: LinkedIn. What is Brand Transparency? Kirk Donlan. About the author. Kirk Donlan Content Marketing Manager. Brandon Stewart Content Marketing Manager.

Joanna Milliken CEO. Our Satisfied Customers Include. There are many examples of corporations hiding their mistakes from the public. Community outrage usually makes the misstep very public. Once the damage is done, it can take years to restore a favorable perception in the marketplace. Disgruntled customers do not soon forget their mistreatment and are happy to talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Acknowledging mistakes may cause some unrest among your loyal customer base. However, it will be far less damaging to your brand than a cover-up. Above all, ensure your brand owns up to doing something wrong or making a mistake. It says to your customers and employees that you have learned from the experience. Trust is maintained, and there will be no need to spend thousands on repairing a damaged reputation.

Consequently, in an increasingly online economy, the need for transparency has never been greater. Your brand will benefit from a happy and productive workplace and enjoy healthier relationships with your customers. Happy clients will tell people about their great experience, which will only improve your reputation in the marketplace. For this reason, transparent and honest companies are often more successful and sustainable than ones that are not.

Happy customers are loyal customers. But how do you make customers happy? Focusing on greater transparency is a great place to start. Companies with easy to understand, transparent operating policies are perceived as being trustworthy and honest, which in turn encourages investment.

After all, nobody likes to feel as though they are being lied to or deceived, least of all when it comes to parting with their hard-earned money. No business owner starts a company with the intention of building a questionable reputation — not if they hope to stay in business for long that is. Competition between online retailers is tough, but aside from ensuring you have competitive prices and a decent website, developing trust and loyalty should be a priority if you hope to generate a devoted customer base and ensure long-term success.

Make sure your pricing information includes any additional costs the consumer may incur when ordering the product. For example, you might want to include packaging and postage costs. If the price of the product has been recently reduced, mention this too.