Measuring Customer Loyalty: 5 Key Metrics to Track

As a business owner, how do you measure customer loyalty, and what key metrics should you track for new customers? Repeat business, brand loyalty, and customer advocacy are all essential elements in building a successful business.

In this article, we’ll explore the different ways to measure customer loyalty, the challenges of measuring customer loyalty, and the key metrics to track for new customers. 

Customer Loyalty vs Customer Satisfaction

Customer loyalty refers to the willingness of a customer to continue to do business with a company, as evidenced by repeat purchases, referrals, and advocacy. It is important to note that customer loyalty is not the same as customer satisfaction.

A customer may be satisfied with a product or service, but that does not necessarily mean they will remain loyal to the company. To learn more about Customer Loyalty, What it is, and why it matters to your business click here.

Measuring Customer Loyalty

Measuring customer loyalty can be challenging, but it is essential for the success of any business. There are several ways of measuring customer loyalty.

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
• Customer Loyalty Index (CLI)
• Repeat Purchase Rate
• Customer Engagement Ratio (CER)

Here are 5 Key Metrics to Track Customer Loyalty

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your business to others on a scale of 0-10.

As a result of their answers, the customers might be classified as either promoters, passives, or detractors categories.

• Customers with scores of 9 or 10 are grouped as Promoters. These customers are most likely satisfied customers and your biggest admirers, who are willing to repeat purchases and refer you to others.  
• Customers with scores of 7 to 8 are called Passives. These customers are considered to be just happy with your services and may patronize you again.
• Customers with scores below 7 are considered Detractors. They are dissatisfied customers who may hurt your brand by alerting others about their negative experiences, limiting your expansion. It’s critical to follow up with reviewers to see why they had such a negative experience. This might lead to useful conclusions and possibly aid in the conversion of opponents to proponents.
• NPS = % promoters – % detractors. For example, if 60% of respondents are Promoters, 30% are Detractors, and 10% are passives, your NPS would be 60-30=30

Subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters gives you your NPS score. This approach may be used to determine a client’s degree of happiness, as well as their chance of making another purchase, without bothering them with a large list of questions.

Rather than focusing just on the quality of your products and services, as many people assume, the NPS score represents your customers’ overall impression of your business.

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) measures customer loyalty by calculating the total value a customer will bring to your business over the course of their relationship with your company.

A high CLTV indicates that customers are loyal to your business and are more likely to remain customers for a long period of time.

By calculating CLV, you can gain insight into the profitability of your customer base and make informed decisions about how to invest in customer acquisition and retention efforts.

To calculate CLV, you need to consider several factors, including the average revenue per customer, the average cost of serving each customer, and the length of time each customer stays with your brand. The basic formula for calculating CLV is:

CLV = (Average Revenue per Customer x Gross Margin) / Churn Rate

CLV Illustration

Let’s use an imaginary brand, “Fresh Start,” to illustrate this formula. Fresh Start is a meal delivery service that offers healthy and delicious meals to customers.

Assume that the average revenue per customer for Fresh Start is $200 per month, and the average cost of serving each customer is $75 per month.

The gross margin is calculated by subtracting the cost of serving each customer from the revenue per customer, which is $125 per month.

Assume that Fresh Start has an average customer retention rate of 24 months or a churn rate of 4.17% per month. Using the formula above, we can calculate Fresh Start’s CLV as follows:

CLV = ($200 x $125) / 0.0417

CLV = $6,000

This means that each Fresh Start customer is worth $6,000 to the business over their lifetime. By understanding the value of each customer, Fresh Start can make strategic decisions about how to allocate resources to customer acquisition and retention efforts.

Deductions and Strategy

To increase CLV, Fresh Start could implement strategies such as upselling and cross-selling additional services to existing customers, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reducing customer churn.

In conclusion, calculating customer lifetime value is a crucial metric for any business looking to grow and succeed. By understanding CLV, you can make informed decisions about how to invest in customer acquisition and retention efforts, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately drive business growth.

Recommended Post: Why Customer Loyalty Rewards is Important 

Customer Loyalty Index

The customer Loyalty Index is a methodology used to keep tabs on the loyalty of customers over a period. Customers may be your primary concern when running a business, however, they can not be quantified.

In order to help you track loyal customers, the Customer Loyalty Index considers numerous criteria such as Net Promoter Score and repurchases. According to Capillary, in order to do this, a questionnaire is used that addresses these three important points: 

• How likely are you to recommend us to your friends and family?
• Are you going to buy from us again in the future?
• How likely are you to try our other products?

This method allows for a more comprehensive understanding of your customer loyalty than a singular metric approach. Apart from this, it can also predict future retention rates, and help build loyalty profiles for your customers.

But bear in mind that not all customers are going to be sincerely answering every question, so it is less reliable than measuring real behaviour.

Good Read: How Customer Loyalty Programs Can Help You Make More Sales

Repeat Purchase Ratio

The ratio of repeat purchases is calculated by dividing the number of customers who return to your business multiple times by the number of one-time buyers. By analyzing data on repeat customers, you can develop a loyalty program to incentivize and reward these loyal patrons.

Let’s say we have an imaginary business that sells coffee online. Over a period of 12 months, the business had 1,000 unique customers who made a total of 1,500 purchases. Out of those 1,000 customers, 500 made more than one purchase during the year.

To calculate the repeat purchase ratio, we divide the number of repeat customers (500) by the number of one-time purchasers (1,000 – 500 = 500).

So, the repeat purchase ratio for this imaginary coffee business is:

500 (repeat customers) / 500 (one-time purchasers) = 1

Therefore, the repeat purchase ratio is 1, indicating that, on average, each customer made one additional purchase beyond their initial purchase.

Given that consumers have diverse shopping patterns, with variations in seasonal buying habits, preferences for specific brands or products, and other factors, targeting each repeat customer individually to understand their shopping behavior can be challenging and time-consuming, even for small businesses.

A good loyalty software or technology can help you automate rewards to such customers when they hit a certain purchase amount.

Customer Engagement Score

When it comes to measuring client loyalty, you may look at how much they use your services and how involved they are.

Customer involvement is more important to high-performing firms (62 per cent) than low-performing ones, according to research by PeopleMetrics based on almost 10,000 online interviews (46 per cent).

According to their specific activity and usage of your services, the Customer Engagement Score provides a score to each of your customers.

In addition, it allows you to group customers into categories (based on demographics, product type, account owner, etc.) to evaluate how each category performs in contrast to the others and to identify churn-risk consumers.

Customer engagement is relatively easier to measure for online businesses compared to brick-and-mortar establishments since virtually all interactions can be recorded.

Use variables such as frequency of use, degree of use, number of actions done by the customer, and total time spent on activities to compute the customer engagement score.

Engagement Metrics to Measure

Activity Time

This is the entire amount of time a user spends engaging with the service delivered, excluding idle time.

Visit Frequency

This metric tracks how frequently a user returns to your service and is a critical indicator of how much value they derive from it.

Core User Actions

It’s a positive sign of engagement when a user performs essential tasks on a regular basis. For a Project Management software, for example, essential user actions might include creating and finishing tasks and inviting colleagues to projects.

A lack of essential user activities, on the other hand, may suggest consumer usability issues with your service.

Better functional experiences (such as improved convenience, variety, and efficiency) and emotional experiences (such as the customer feeling appreciated, the customer’s relationship with their representative, and the customer’s faith in the service) generate higher customer engagement.

ThankUCash Loyalty Software

If you’re ready to start measuring customer loyalty and implementing a loyalty program for your business, ThankUCash Loyalty Software can help. Our software allows you to create custom loyalty programs, track customer engagement, and reward customers for their loyalty. With ThankUCash, you can increase customer retention, improve the customer experience, and build a loyal customer base.

Take the Next Step Towards Building Customer Loyalty

Measuring customer loyalty and implementing a loyalty program can seem daunting, but the benefits are well worth the effort. By tracking key metrics and leveraging the power of loyalty marketing, you can increase customer retention, build a loyal customer base, and grow your business.

If you’re ready to take the next step towards building customer loyalty, contact ThankUCash today to learn how our loyalty software can help you achieve your goals.