How Does Salesforce Commerce Cloud Build Brand Loyalty?

Answer

In the days of my youth when I took to the soccer pitch each and every weekend, I’d sit in the dressing room with the rest of my teammates, slipping on our cleats before we ran out onto the pitch. There was one player who constantly changed theirs as soon as Adidas brought out a new pair. The rest of us were just content with our bland, black cleats. But not our number 9. “Why are you always changing your boots”, I would say. And he’d reply: “I’m an Adidas person”.

Was there a time  when you bought a product largely based on the brand? One of the divisions that cut through my high school days –among many — were the “iPhone guys” versus the “Androids”. 

Most of us can relate to brand loyalty and probably have a handful of brands we turn to for specific products. There are many psychological factors and forces that channel their way into forging loyalty to a brand, who increasingly tweaks and shapes its own set of values and ethics to live life by — working with certain celebrities, using certain materials, or blacklisting certain materials.

And we find ourselves in a commerce environment where the highest skyscrapers of the skyline invest heavily in areas that build the brand and strengthen customer loyalty, including hosting their ecommerce website on robust and powerful platforms like Salesforce Commerce Cloud (formerly Demandware).

Salesforce Commerce Cloud — or SFCC as we like to call it here because we talk about it so much… and also work with it so much! — is equipped with capabilities to enable you to build a broader Church to bring in a greater following on a regular basis. (Although you shouldn’t expect customers to start praying to you at night.)

Here are the ways in which SFCC can help you construct closer customer relationships and stronger loyalties — once you establish a product that is considered of a certain level of quality and standard, of course. Brand loyalty can only be built on a good product or service.

Reward programs

Like many people with a weakness for dough, I love pizza. And during the lockdown I have gradually worn away the sharpness of the pizza cutter. When I open up the delivery app and browse through the seemingly endless choices, there is a force that pulls me towards one particular place. It is not necessarily because I think they bake the best slices. Or they can arrive under 30 minutes. It’s because they have a very simple reward program, in which if you order from there six times, the seventh time is free. But it also allows you to see how many circles have been stamped — like a classic coffee shop stamp — which gave my mind a strong hint to which restaurant to pick.

At the more complex side of reward programs, SFCC can help you to implement more robust and personal rewards. For example, you can weigh reward points that customers can earn depending on the price of each order. Implement specific boost days when buying products will give customers extra points. Or have customers input their birthday when registering on the website for them to receive a special gift on their special day.

Customer service

It’s all well and good having quality products and having a well-structured loyalty program. But without a first-class customer service, any brand is going to be at risk of hemorrhaging sales and repeat customers. Salesforce Commerce Cloud comes with its own customer service function, called the Customer Service Center.

The center holds functions to process customer information, searching for customer profiles, finding orders, and updating accounts. This enables your customer service staff to change orders or cancel them, as well as return or exchange them. Or perhaps a customer is contacting you about a particular product, your staff is able to browse catalogs and assist in sales.

PS: UV is one of the world’s leading Salesforce Commerce Cloud experts. Contact us to see how we can work together.