Loyalty isn’t just for B2C: How to refine your ABM strategy to keep your B2B clients engaged

B2B relationships and our personal relationships outside of work have one core similarity: they both must be nurtured to flourish. That’s why it’s crucial to remember loyalty in business relationships extends far beyond seasonal gifting. This is especially true in account-based marketing (ABM), where the stakes are high and loyalty programmes play a pivotal role.

But loyalty isn’t just about transactions. It’s also about fostering enduring partnerships. Here’s a breakdown of questions you should be asking your team about improving your B2B loyalty programme – and some answers to get you started.

What can you give your clients that doesn’t cost you anything (beyond minimal work or time)? 

With revenue and budgets always top of mind, start by thinking beyond discounts or additional spend on clients for ways to add value. Our starting list features several ways to position your proprietary insights and connections as value adds to grow your most important client relationships.

• Give access to selected proprietary data that shows valued clients how the industry is responding and validates their decision to work with you.
• Share early access to or previews of your new services or products, giving clients a sense of exclusivity and importance. (Don’t forget to seek their feedback on these new features or services.)
• Create regular, personalised communications including emails, check-in calls, or messages on special occasions like business milestones or anniversaries.
• Facilitate introductions and networking opportunities for your clients with other professionals in your network. This can help them build valuable connections and potentially grow their business.
• Feature clients in your marketing materials, such as case studies, testimonials, or spotlights in your newsletters or on social media. This not only provides them with exposure, but also demonstrates your appreciation for their business.
• Regularly share industry insights, best practices, and tips you’re already producing that can help clients improve their operations. This can be done through newsletters, blog posts or tailored reports.

What can you give your clients that’s low lift?

Beyond the free hit opportunities we just mentioned, there are also small time and budget investments you can make that take advantage of work you should be doing. Putting client relationships front of mind in weekly content or creative ideation sessions could lead to ideas like:

• Offering your expertise and insights relevant to their business. This could be in the form of informal advisory sessions where you provide guidance on marketing strategies, or other areas where your knowledge can add value to their business.
  
• Create and give free access to quarterly roundtable discussions, webinars, or other educational content featuring your internal experts.
• Spin up and invite clients to join exclusive moderated user groups or forums where they can exchange ideas, challenges, and solutions with peers. This can foster a sense of community and belonging, as everyone is connecting through your network and with your products or services in mind.
• Set aside an annual budget to engage clients with short surveys or polls – five questions – to gauge their opinions on industry topics or potential new features/services. Then, share those results with your top consumers first as a value add before turning them into additional content.

What can you give clients to take advantage of trends? 

Clients want to see you as an innovator at all times – not just at sale or renewal time. Keeping the idea that you’re forging new trails in your industry at the front of their minds is key to growing their account. With this in mind, you can …

• Offer clients early, gate-free access to any lead-gen or exclusive content that you create.
• Conduct an annual sentiment analysis on your industry or product niche and present it to your clients in an exclusive web event before releasing it. Or offer personalised analysis or consultations to your clients on how specific trends could impact their business and strategies they could adopt to leverage these trends.
• Create newsletters that focus on trend analysis and insights, helping your clients stay informed about developments that could affect their industry.
• Involve clients in brainstorming sessions or think tanks to explore new trends and how they can be applied to their business.

What can you give clients that will pay instant dividends? 

While information is great, money always talks. Here are three ways you can incentivize clients financially at all phases of your relationship:

• Renewal discounts may be a standard feature of most contracts today, but it’s a simple and effective way to secure loyalty.
• Apart from renewals, you can create special offers, discounts, or exclusive deals to provide immediate financial benefits or savings for clients with significant budgets while creating upsells for your brand.
• Referral programmes – including offering discounts, free add-ons or access to exclusive features – not only helps clients, but help your bottom line, too. 

How can you track the value of your loyalty programme – both by loyalty tactic as well as the programme as a whole? 

Is a loyalty programme without measurement even really a loyalty programme? You should create  a measurement framework for the success of each tactic you introduce before it’s rolled out to your selected customers. Here are a few things to consider:

• Measure the time spent on your loyalty programme clients vs. the additional revenue gained.
• Measure engagement rates on things like content, event attendance, email opens, and other actions by loyalty programme clients vs. regular clients.
• Measure the retention rate against your non-loyalty clients, as well as the repeat purchase rate and account growth rate to see how your programme’s effectiveness is encouraging additional sales. You can also calculate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of clients who are part of the loyalty programme versus those who are not.
• Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Comparing the NPS of customers in the loyalty programme with those outside it can provide valuable insights.
• Track referral and redemption rates by monitoring how often rewards, points or other perks are redeemed.
• Analyse the costs of running the loyalty programme against the revenue generated from programme members.
• Monitor any increases in social media engagement or brand mentions as a result of the loyalty programme. This can be a good indicator of increased brand loyalty and advocacy.