You might offer world-class products, an unbeatable eCommerce app, and an impressive sales funnel to push people towards your brand. If customers buy from your app once and disappear, you’ll struggle to scale your business. Benchmarking varies from company to company; most eCommerce businesses have 25-30% returning customers. The good news? There are ways to create loyal customers that repeatedly return to your eCommerce store.
A good customer retention strategy can help you maximise value from existing customers and reduce the need for marketing spending on acquiring new ones. Repeat sales can increase brand advocacy and trust, cementing your long-term success in the cut-throat eCommerce landscape. Suppose you can turn 20% of your eCommerce app’s customers into repeat buyers. It could help you stabilise revenues, enjoy word-of-mouth marketing from patrons and help you build a more extensive customer base over time. In short, repeat customers drive growth.
Below, we’ve put together some strategies that you should consider implementing.
You’ve worked hard to build a user-friendly eCommerce app – so make sure users don’t forget you. Turn up the communication lever once a customer has made a purchase – a push notification to thank them, alert them to shipping updates and prompt them to leave a review. Being present throughout the sales and delivery journey builds confidence. A memorable experience will push them to spend more.
eCommerce brands are becoming increasingly experimental in their approach, too. Say goodbye to transactional, formal notifications – talk to your customers like they’d talk to each other. Recommend other products, use emojis, and build excitement pre- and post-delivery.
See also: Building a relationship with customers post-purchase
75% of consumers say they favour companies that offer rewards—launching a loyalty scheme within your app incentivises customers to return repeatedly. In recent years, we’ve seen a considerable increase in major brands pushing loyalty schemes – from McDonald’s to Tesco; everyone’s at it. Offer points and discounts and look for ways to create lifetime customer value. The more straightforward and lucrative your scheme is, the more likely users will get involved. Chase Bank, for example, recently launched a customer loyalty scheme in the UK, offering users £20 for every friend they signed up to the app. The project was so successful that the brand had to pull the plug on it due to overwhelming interest.
During the cost of living crisis, rewarding users can engage them more. Loyalty programmes entice repeat purchases, and if you utilise machine learning technology to recommend experiences and products that you know users are already interested in, it will have a knock-on effect. Schemes like premium subscription packages (offering unlimited delivery for a set annual subscription) should also be considered as your eCommerce brand begins to scale.
To drive more potential customers to your eCommerce app, think outside the box and experiment with digital marketing techniques. Nurture and grow your customer base through paid ads – Facebook and Google advertising allows you to maximise reach and get the word out about your brand. The more consistent and targeted these campaigns are, the more likely you will drive sales. Centre ads around events such as Christmas, weddings, and home improvement; remember that A/B testing is critical to maximising your ad budget.
Organic customer acquisition techniques such as SEO and content marketing cannot be overlooked, though it’s essential to acknowledge that success in this field takes time. If you can climb to the top of the results for key terms, you’ll drive endless traffic to your eCommerce app’s website or landing page and boost your authority. Email marketing is another strategy to consider, whilst social media can be used to tap into audiences and create vocal, engaged customer bases through user-generated content.
Shopping holidays originated in China, with events like 11/11 generating billions of dollars in sales for eCommerce marketplaces. Nowadays, events like Black Friday are big business, and you can piggyback off them to drive sales on your eCommerce app. It’s easier than ever to personalise offers for customers. Reminding them about friends’ birthdays can push them to buy more merchandise from your app, and rewarding them with a discount or freebie on their birthday can be a way to build relationships and serve as the impetus for another sale.
Unique, time-limited coupon codes are a great way to push sales – it feeds on the fear of missing out (FOMO) and can make users feel like they’re part of an exclusive community. What’s more, coupon codes can help determine the effectiveness of individual marketing campaigns. Use data at every opportunity to see what messaging works and what doesn’t.
At Zudu, we offer various digital services to help eCommerce businesses thrive. From app development to market acceleration, search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising, we’d love to discuss how we could help. Give us a call on 01382 690 080 today.
