The biggest challenge for any business in starting and maintaining an ecommerce is achieving and retaining customers.
This is one of the biggest factors to consider if you want your online store to grow, profit and succeed.
The number one concern for businesses is to attract and acquire the customers. But what makes the difference between a burgeoning start-up and a solid ecommerce brand with a sustainable success is the retention of loyal customers who come back time and again.
The longevity of an ecommerce business depends on the ability of the ecommerce brand to convert one-time purchasers into loyal or repeat customers.
So if you are thinking of strategizing customer retention for your ecommerce, here are some tips and tricks to help you go about it. Take a look.
- Take into Account the Churning Signs Amongst Customers – For ensuring customer retention it is essential that you can prevent a customer from leaving. If you really pay attention you can always see the signs of impending departure. For capturing the warning signals you must identify the key variables of customer behaviour like product usage, purchase patterns and history of customer service enquiries. This will let you know the signs and take appropriate actions to stop customers before they churn out. The right CRM system can help you achieve that.
For example, through your CRM system you can see how many of your customers did not make a purchase from your store in the last 6 months. This is a signal displaying that they are quitting your ecommerce and opting for your competitors’. Comparing your entire list of competitors with the list of people who purchased from you in the last 6 months can help you know those who didn’t do business with you for that period. You can get all these from your CRM system. Then you can send follow-up mails to check what went wrong and prevent them from leaving your business. - Improve Your Customer Support – Support systems assist you to effectively communicate with customers and offer them with the right support level. A support system can enable both the pre and post-sale by enabling a customer rep to communicate with the customers. You can opt for help desk tools or live chats. These can convert a customer question or a customer complaint into a sale by offering a resolution whether they emerge through email, onsite or through social media. You can covert an unhappy customer into a repeat and loyal one by effectively resolving their problem or complaint. Added to that, you will also gain the value of customer feedback which can assist you to improve your overall shopping experience and products.
- Send Email Campaigns with Promotional Offers – Your customers make an investment in your business when they purchase from you. So you can also make an investment in them with coupons and promotional offers. The key is to make the customers feel like this is an exclusive offer. You should encourage your customers to act fast by using an expiration date. More than 80% of the people will use the digital coupons within a week because of this. Customer support systems like these can go a long way and can assist you to create a loyal customer potentially for life.
- Design a Customer Loyalty Program – While it is vital to focus on customers who are at risk of quitting from your business, you also cannot forget about the loyal customers of yours as well. Afterall, they deserve appreciation for always choosing your brand over others. The customers can be rewarded for their consistent loyalty with the help of customer loyalty program. The more they interact and shop with your business, the more they are rewarded. This keeps customers happier as it is not just your service or product that they get – they gain much more.
As over 9% of the customers spend three times more than the rest of the customer base in your business, you will want to ensure that they are more than satisfied. - Reward Your Most Profitable (VIP) Customers – The info gathered in the CRM software can let you know the accounts that are most profitable for you. These are your most profitable customers whom you don’t want to let go. So they are the VIPs. Being aware of who brings the maximum amount of revenue allows you to allocate your resources and time efficiently as well as enhance your chances of up-selling or cross-selling. You should also give away incentives to these customers just like your loyal customers base.
These are just some of the strategies, as suggested by the experts of Magento development in India who have been in the industry for quite some time now, that you can utilise for retaining your customers and creating your own niche in the industry eventually.
