With a plethora of Ecommerce Stores out there, keeping loyal customers is not always an easy task. There is a lot more competition than there was 5 years ago. Heck, there’s a lot more competition than there was 12 months ago! Consumers can buy products from one Store and then quickly move onto the next without looking back.
If you’re a Small Business Owner with an Ecommerce Store, you can’t simply get by having a “good” product anymore, as this won’t make you stand out, nor will it make your customers remember you. To really boost your retention, it’s absolutely vital to add value to your Store and give your customers quality service every time. Give them something that they’ll get addicted to and keep them coming back for more!
This notion of customer retention all plays into the idea of the customer experience. Once you master this experience in a consistent, inviting and exciting way, you’ll be more likely to achieve high customer retention.
So, here are 5 of the best ways you can hold on to those customers and transform them from one-time buyers into loyal customers.
1. Get Personal
The first step to retaining customers is by personalizing all your customer interactions. Remember, your customers don’t want to be treated as a number, or to be given the same stock standard response as every other customer. They want a personalized experience that feels tailored to them, because let’s face it, everyone likes to feel special!
A great way to personalize a customer’s experience with your Store is by allowing them to create an account with your Business. This not only creates a sense of attachment to your Company, but also gives you the opportunity to make a more tailored experience for your users. For example, when a customer logs into their account you can greet them with a personalized message such as ‘Hi Melissa, Welcome back!’, or ‘We’ve missed you Jane, good to have you back’.
Get personal with your Emails, live chats, video tutorials, or even a hand-written note in your product packaging. Adding personalization where possible will make your customers feel valued and will keep them coming back for more.
2. Reward Loyalty
A great way to maintain a relationship with your customers, is to reward their loyalty. By keeping tabs on customer purchase history and customers who show interest in your products, you’ll be giving them even more of an incentive to keep buying with you.
Think discounts, VIP access and loyalty programs. After all, who doesn’t love a surprise discount code for 20% off? By giving a little, you’re more likely to get a lot in return. Customers will appreciate the gesture and will hold you in high regard for rewarding them for being such a loyal customer.
3. Keep Up with the Crowd & Show off your assets
If you offer $10 postage on all your products but your top 10 competitors offer Free Delivery, at some point you’re going to have to follow their lead. Online Shoppers are cut throat, so if you’re starting to fall behind your competition, your customers are likely to jump ship.
While some customers might love and value your products, if they can get a better sales experience with another Online Store their loyalty will likely disappear pretty quickly. A great way to keep your Business at the forefront is to highlight what is different and better about your specific customer experience compared to your competitors. If you do offer Free Delivery and Free Returns, this should definitely be something you highlight.
Maybe you provide 24/7 customer service, a call back guarantee or a free discount for new customers. Whatever your sales grab, don’t hide it in the T’s and C’s. Make it known, show it off and highlight it across your whole Store.
4. Remarketing
Remarketing is an exceptionally powerful tool when it comes to enticing past purchasers back into buying from your Store, as well as those who may not have quite made it to the buying stage. If you thought you just had to sit there twiddling your thumbs waiting, think again.
By using data and analytics you can pinpoint exactly where you may have lost a customer on your Site. For example, maybe they added something to their cart, but never made it to the checkout. They could have become caught up with something or maybe they just simply forgot to come back. And this is where Remarketing comes in: this Marketing Tool allows you to re-target existing customers, customers who abandoned their cart and even customers that have had a casual glance at some of your products.
It helps you relocate your audience in all the nooks and crannies of the internet, show them your products again, and encourage them to come back.
5. Focus on the Data
If you’re not a data-driven Business Owner, you might not like this, but stay with us! In order to achieve customer retention using all of the above tips, you need to really know your customers. And the best way to know your customers is through analyzing data.
How often do you get a sale on your site? How many repeat customers do you have? How much do your customers spend each time they make a purchase? Knowing the ins and outs of your customer’s movements, engagement levels and purchases will help identify the best retention tool to use. This information should be easily collected from your Ecommerce store’s back end, also known as the CMS (Customer Management Software). But you might need a little help from a reliable data tool to help use all your data in order to implement successful retention strategies.
If you haven’t yet invested some time into looking at your data then now’s the time! Doing so will seriously help you gauge the most effective retention strategy for you.
Your current customers are your Ecommerce Store’s greatest assets. They’re the customers that already know your brand, know your products and appreciate your quality service. This means you want to do everything you can to keep them coming back to your Store for more, and more…and more!
If you’ve never thought about customer retention before, now is the time to start. By putting a focus on your current customers, your retention levels are sure to rise and your Ecommerce Store to thrive.
