You’ve put a lot of time and money into acquiring new customers, but that is only going to take you so far if you are not making a serious effort to retain them. Loyal customers are much more valuable than those that just come for a single purchase. Along with that, by going after lifetime value, you increase the return on investment from the money you spent on customer acquisition.
Even if you have the best products, you can’t rely on customers coming back just to enjoy the same product again. You have to make an effort to reconnect and market to your existing customers. In this post, we are going to cover some of the most effective tips for increasing customer retention for ecommerce businesses.
Connect on Social Media
Using ecommerce social media strategies is one of the best ways to connect with new and existing customers. Your ability to post and engage regularly can be a great way to build a relationship with customers. Post about new products and sales. Contribute to conversations that involve your brand or topics that are relevant to your products.
Beyond just posting, social media platforms offer some of the best paid advertising options for customer retention. You can use customer email addresses or phone numbers to market directly to people who have shopped with you in the past. You can even make a list of customers who have not shopped with you in a while and create a campaign designed to win them back with targeted messaging.
Build Your Email List
Too many ecommerce businesses treat email marketing as an afterthought. Sure, it isn’t new and exciting like some of the other options that are out there, but it offers one of the best ROIs in your marketing toolkit. According to one report, email marketing had an ROI of $42 for every dollar spent in 2019.
A strong email list can be one of the most valuable resources for your customer retention efforts. One of the simplest ways to build your email list is to have a pop-up with an opt-in form on your website. You should also consider offering a small discount to entice customers to opt in. It doesn’t have to be anything too extravagant and it can be a good way to increase the conversion rate of the opt-in form.
Follow-up When Customers Opt in
Once you have a strategy for collecting emails, you should develop a plan for following up when people opt-in. To start, the act of opting in should be automatically followed with a welcome email. This email just says hello and welcomes the person to the mailing list. If you did make an offer to get people to opt in, you should make sure the welcome email provides the information customers need to collect on the offer.
Beyond the initial welcome email, you can plan a sequence that follows opting in. Maybe a few days or a week later, you can send an email that highlights some of your top products. If the customer has already made a purchase, you could follow up with an email that recommends products based on what they already bought.
Incentivize Referrals
Loyal customers can be your best brand advocates. If your customers truly love your products, they will do some of the work naturally, but you can help the process along by offering incentives for referrals. This not only rewards your loyal customer, but it is also a low-cost strategy for acquiring new customers.
Set up a referral program to get customers to recommend your business to their friends and family. Offer a discount or a voucher for every new customer that makes a qualifying purchase. Another great strategy is to increase referrals by giving existing customers a voucher they can pass on to a friend. Most people will want to be able to pass savings on to their friends, so it can be an effective way to increase referrals.
Start a Loyalty Program
Ecommerce businesses can benefit a lot from starting a loyalty program. Along with being a great way to encourage more purchasing and loyalty, it is also a good way to make your customers feel appreciated.
Most businesses just stick with offering points for every purchase. This is a good strategy, but you can get more from your loyalty program by using it to incentivize things like posting on social media. One simple way to do this is to offer bonus points for posting about a recent purchase or creating an unboxing video.
Enhance the Unboxing Experience
Unboxing a new delivery is an exciting experience for the consumer. An ecommerce business can get more from the unboxing of their products by taking steps to make it special. Something as simple as adding a thank you note can go a long way toward building loyalty.
If you really want to go the extra yard, you could include pamphlets that give the customer tips about using the product. You could also consider adding small branded gifts with the product. It doesn’t even have to be anything expensive. Something like a keychain or a small pouch for carrying the product will be enough to set your unboxing experience apart.
Add Value With Informative Content
Informative content should be a part of your social media marketing. This content isn’t intended to push for the hard sell. Instead, you create content like how-to videos and explainers to provide your customers with information they will value.
Creating informative content can work well for customer retention because it will make your social media followers value their connection to your brand even more. When tutorials and explainer videos feature your products, it can also highlight the value of your product and inspire customers to find new ways to use your products.
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