For a hyper-competitive industry like eCommerce, where the cost of clicks and conversions is continuously rising, it is becoming increasingly challenging to draw in new customers. Also costly.
What’s more, the COVID-19 crisis has changed consumer behavior for good, creating new difficulties and making the retention of old customers a question of decision as well as a need.
However, regardless of whether you remove the pandemic from the situation, eCommerce’s customer retention strategy is essential.
Why would that be?
Since recurring revenue from loyal customers can increase an eCommerce organization’s typical absolute revenue by up to 40%.
Furthermore, a regular income stream from repeat buys empowers eCommerce businesses to design their growth and resource allocation in a more viable manner.
Think about it: when did you last put forth attempts to re-engage your old customers, or attempted to assemble brand loyalty?
Try not to remember.
On the off chance that that is you, it very well may be time to begin implementing the tactics underneath to speed up your eCommerce customer retention strategy and develop your revenue en route.
Customer Retention Rate
Customer retention indicates the number of customers that remained loyal to your business throughout some undefined time frame. It is for the most part expressed in terms of a customer retention rate (CRR) that is determined by the following formula:
Customer retention rate = [(E — N)/B] * 100
B = Customers toward the beginning of a time period
E = Customers toward the finish of a similar time period
N = New customers added during the time period
Building a Great eCommerce Customer Retention Strategy
Building a fail-safe eCommerce customer retention strategy is simple on the off chance that you know the right tactics and tools. So we should investigate some.
Customized Emails
Personalization is the way to stay associated with your customers and encourage them to repurchase from you. You want to construct a special interaction with your customers through all the engagement channels at your disposal. The most intuitive platform then is through email.
In a customized email, you tailor the messaging, timing, and targeting according to every recipient’s exceptional requirements. This, in turn, draws in more individuals to open their emails and drive desired activities.
Need to know the most awesome aspect?
Your customers already have some degree of confidence in your eCommerce organization. On the off chance that you cause them to feel special through exclusive deals and tailored content, you can push them to repurchase more effectively than irregular, first-time visitors.
Furthermore, assuming you’re ready to offer better types of assistance to them, you can gradually boost your binds with them and further develop your marketing ROI (return on investment).
Thus, feel free to add an individual touch to your emails.
Yet, how? A few thoughts for you to blend and match:
- Include the recipient’s name in the subject line, salutation, and body content.
- Send location-specific content (recommend close-by stores, nearby deals, and so on.).
- Segment your subscribers as precisely as possible, and afterward create designated messages for each segment.
Such hyper-designated emails will undoubtedly further develop customer engagement and retention. And, surprisingly, more than that, customized emails likewise should be expertly planned to match a consumer’s snapshot of need.
Creating Customer Accounts
Customer accounts can boost your customer retention strategy amazingly.
Customers get a single tick admittance to their order histories, which permits them to make repeat buys, request returns, and check order situations with, ease. They can likewise rapidly get to their favorite products, special member discounts, and invoices.
The result?
By taking the pain out of online shopping, you set customers instantly straight. You urge them to return to your store again subsequent to providing them with a lovely shopping experience.
When utilized strategically, this strategy can streamline the vast majority of your eCommerce metrics from sales to beat rate and then some.
Nonetheless, there is a catch: creating a customer record might be considered a seriously large responsibility by first-time customers, who would rather not uncover their subtleties to a brand they’ve quite recently met. In the event that given the choice, they would prefer to look at as visitors as opposed to finishing up detailed contact forms.
However, since customer accounts affect your customer retention strategy, it would be a screw-up to disregard them.
The solution? There are two, in fact.
First give your first-time shoppers a choice to create a record, however solely after they’ve submitted the first request. In their order confirmation email, you can send them a direct invite to activate their record. That ought to get the job done.
The second and simpler choice is to create a customer account consequently.
Your customers can sign into their accounts whenever through their own sign-in link shipped off their inbox. This is convenient, as shoppers don’t have to remember any passwords to approach their accounts. Besides, the login by sign-in link is a more secure method of login than using a secret word.
Customer Support
You can’t retain customers in the event that you don’t serve them effectively before, during, and after the deal. Proactive customer support will fuel your eCommerce customer retention strategy in more ways than one.
Like what?
At the point when you are free for your customers 24×7, you furnish them with a great customer experience (CX), which encourages brand loyalty. However, customers are in many cases willing to pay a premium of up to 16% in return for good CX.
On the off chance that this sounds like a good thing, this is on the grounds that it is.
Sometimes, competent and prompt customer administration is the main thing required to change over a dissatisfied, furious customer into a cheerful one.
You can make your eCommerce website a one-stop solution for all your customer needs by incorporating a chatbot or live chat software solution into it. Using this bot, you can show new customers correct item use, tackle queries about site navigation, give shipping updates, and help with whatever else could come up on the fly.
As we’ve said before, old customers are like equity for a business. In addition to other things, giving them priority customer support can assist with cementing their loyalty.
Retargeting Ads
Your eCommerce customer retention strategy will get a major boost in the event that you influence retargeting promotions correctly.
Retargeting advertisements advance products, deals, or services that a client recently perused, shopped or expressed interest in. They are more successful than regular promotions that are inclined to “flag blindness”, a human inclination to ignore pennants except if they convey recognizable content.
Very much like customized emails, retargeting promotions are additionally tailored to every client’s necessities and interests, and that is the reason they have tremendous change potential.
To create retargeting promotions that feed your customer retention strategy, you should:
- Use earnestness to create FOMO (apprehension about missing out).
- Include compelling customer examples of overcoming adversity in the promotion duplicate.
- Show products that supplement a customer’s recent buy.
- Keep detached customers in the circle by reminding them of their past purchases.
Bottom Line
As may be obvious, for eCommerce brands, a customer retention strategy is non-debatable.
In the event that you’re as yet not inspired to formulate a customer retention strategy for your eCommerce organization, here’s a parting thought:
Not having a customer retention strategy implies your eCommerce brand passes up significant cost savings, referral traffic, repeat buys, and other customer loyalty benefits.
