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With every click and conversion coming at an increased cost, you know that retaining an existing customer is a lot cheaper than finding a new one. Your best customers don’t do business with you just once. They see value in what you’re offering and keep coming back for more.
Customer retention increases your customers’ lifetime value and boosts your revenue
● What does customer retention mean?
● When was the last time you tried to re-engage with your existing customers?
● How can you achieve customer retention through relationship-building strategies?
If you don’t have definite answers to the questions mentioned above, then now is the perfect time to build an organized strategy for customer retention.
What is customer retention?
Customer retention is about providing and extracting more value from your existing customer base. It is a fusion of strategies an eCommerce business employs to increase the number of repeat customers and increase the profitability of each existing customer.
You want to ensure the customers you worked so hard to acquire continue doing business with you for long. In short, the acquisition is about bringing new customers on board while retention is how you build relationships with the acquired customers and maximize revenue.
What are the 5 strategies to improve customer retention for your ecommerce business?
Mentioned below are five ideas that you can use to build stronger relationships with your existing customers.
1. Always be quick to help your customers
Fast, friendly, and consistent customer service is the backbone of any good eCommerce business. If you help customers solve their problems quickly, you’ll be doing a favor to both them and your business.
Support systems help you provide the right level of support to your customers and effectively communicate with them. Having a help desk or live chat can give you the power to turn a customer question into a sale or a customer complaint into an effective resolution.
Often, when a complaint is handled effectively, it paves the way to turn an unhappy customer into a loyal, repeat customer. They need to be sure that in case of an issue you will be prompt in your response.
Pro tip: Every piece of communication you send to a customer can mention an email id such as [email protected] which they can write to in case of any concern.
2. Encourage customers to create accounts
Asking customers to register an account on your store can be tricky. It can seem like too big a commitment for someone who is making a purchase from you for the first time. Which is why, often, customers choose to check out as a guest.
Customer accounts make it a lot easier for customers to get instant access to their previous orders and browse products that are shown to them based on their past searches. Accounts also make repurchasing easier by giving customers quick access to their pre-filled shipping information.
So then, how do you encourage customers to sign up for accounts without compromising their first-time purchase? The trick is to give them the option to create an account after they have placed their first order.
3. Reward your customers for being loyal with a loyalty program
Loyalty programs seem simple, but they have an enormous impact on customer retention. If your customers know that they will be rewarded every time they shop with you, they will be more inclined to come back.
You can use a loyalty/reward program to encourage occasional-buyers to register for an account with you—this could be a special discount or a bunch of points they can redeem when they shop with you.
A lot of eCommerce stores use a loyalty program but fail to implement it to their advantage. Often times, the reason for this is that their loyalty program requires customers to do too many purchases to earn rewards that can actually be used.
Your customers are smart and when they don’t see any value, they just don’t buy. The best way to address this challenge is to do the following:
● Keep your loyalty program free of charge and devoid of any complicated terms and conditions. Your store gets a bad reputation when a customer can’t reap the benefits of your loyalty program because of a condition that was hidden in the fine print.
● Don’t add a roadblock in your customer’s signup journey by asking them to fill up additional details to avail the loyalty program. Ask them that additional information after they have completed their signup.
● Make your loyalty program worthwhile. The customer should actually see value in shopping with you again and again. For instance, a 2% cashback on every purchase may not be as exciting as a “Surprise Gift” on every 5 purchases. It’s all about gamifying the customer behavior for a win-win situation.
4. Make it easy for your customers to trust you
All your marketing strategies and tactics come down to one simple question: do your customers trust you? For a business to succeed, it is crucial that there is trust between all the parties involved. There are a lot of factors that affect how credible your business seems to a customer especially if you are just starting out. Some of these factors include:
Having the right domain name: Look at these two domain names and guess which one looks credible and which one looks like a spam link:
a) www.vintagehome.store
b) www.buy-vintage-home-furniture.com
While they are both legitimate links, the former option builds a better first impression than the second one. Not to mention the second domain name is too complicated to remember in case the user wants to revisit. Building an eCommerce store on a short, keyword-rich and industry-specific domain extension such as .STORE helps you in owning a brand that is unique, credible, and most importantly…memorable.
Showing off glowing testimonials: Make sure you highlight all the positive reviews your customers give you for everyone to see. People trust people and a good word of mouth from an existing customer and encourage a new one to transact with you with trust.
5. Keep them engaged with discount or credit return
Most eCommerce businesses consider offering regular discounts a risky tactic as it builds an expectation of reduced prices. But first-time buyers love a discount! They are any way unsure of whether or not to buy from you. You can make this decision easy for them by offering a welcome discount.
Furthermore, sending them an exclusive discount code for their next purchase after they have placed an order with you encourages them to come back and shop with you again. This makes discounting an effective strategy to retain every customer you acquire.
Think of this discount as an investment in boosting your customer retention rate.
Conclusion
Customer retention doesn’t happen overnight. However, with your customers’ trust in you and the right strategies up your sleeve, you can coax your existing customers to keep coming back for more. The trick is to understand your customers, their needs, and where their pain points lie.
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