(Newswire.net — February 20, 2021) — One of the keys to an eCommerce business success is to understand when they have to increase customer retention and not only focus on acquiring new clients. You will always need to invest in attracting buyers, but a shop cannot strive on new customers only.
When to Increase Customer Retention Vs. Customer Acquisition?
The best time to start growing customer retention and loyalty is soon after you make your first sales. In fact, your shop has to be designed for retention by default. This means providing high quality customer service, offering good perks with the order, setting competitive prices, etc. However, you should start steadily increasing your dedication to retention when your business first gains traction. Use the graph below as a guide, but remember that every business is unique and you should pay attention to your specific needs when planning the shop’s growth.
To measure your current customer retention rate use this guide from Shopify or find a similar one from the eCommerce platform you use.
How to Increase Customer Retention for an eCommerce Business: 3 Ideas
1. Use desktop push notifications
Push notifications for mobile devices are a must today, but you shouldn’t forget about desktop either. Despite the popularity of mobile online shopping, people still buy more using computers, according to Statista.
Setting up push notifications from your website through Chrome is cheap as you don’t have to develop a dedicated mobile app for this. You also get universal access to customers as the number of people using this browser is so big, the rest of them don’t even come close.
For this tactic to work, your visitors have to give you permission when they visit your website. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure that the site runs perfectly. For this you’ll need to have an excellent design and hosting. Top-quality design should be developed by pros and you can find reliable servers by studying independent hosting reviews.
2. Launch a brand ambassador program
Offering a bonus for referring a friend is nice and will help attract new clients. However to increase customer retention you need to keep people interested in spreading word about your business and returning. Making them brand ambassadors will certainly do this.
In order to use this technique your business must have a strong brand identity. Once that is done, use BuzzSumo or similar tools to alert you every time your brand name is mentioned and come into contact with the customers that do this. Offer them to become your ambassadors and some bonuses that will keep them interested. For example, a progressive discount, personalized special offers, and exclusive products available only to ambassadors.
You should also get these people involved into your social media marketing strategy. Share their content and have them share yours. If they have websites/blogs of their own, invite them to post guest content on your blog. If you built your store with Shopify, you can generate thousands of unique promo codes with the brand ambassadors to get free products and run giveaways among their followers. Join influencer networks to vet and recruit brand ambassadors. Having a solid circle of brand ambassadors and micro-influencers collaborating with your brand helps retain existing customers and compete with the best Shopify stores.
3. Launch a subscription program
Even if you don’t switch to a subscription-first business model, having this kind of program will be a boon. The point is to have specialized packages delivered regularly (usually once a month) that will offer subscribers great savings. This model is designed to increase customer retention specifically, so you definitely should give it a try.
Aside from providing some huge discount you can also get customers interested by offering exclusive products. Nowadays ‘specialty box’ packages are also getting popular. These are boxes filled with surprise products that brands send out to their subscribers monthly.