Business is a game of numbers, with a single goal: to make money. As any good business person knows, there are two ways to make money: revenue and savings. While most companies focus on revenue growth by increasing sales, smart ones also turn efforts towards saving costs for the company in areas that don't directly produce or speed up revenue generation. One such cost-saving action is how companies manage their customer base and retain loyal customers or turn a one-time sale into a long term relationship that will produce recurring sales with minimal effort on the company's part.
In most cases, loyalty programs are crafted around rewarding current customers for their purchases, hoping to encourage more spending, with the added benefit of attracting new customers through word-of-mouth advertising.
Retaining a customer is all about having a relationship with them – you have to build a bond with your customer base so that they keep coming back for more without being prompted to. Many companies do this by offering perks or discounts on products and services over time to encourage cross-buying and make your customers feel like they're part of a family, as well as offer incentives for referring people you know.
Following are some potential ways to retain eCommerce Customers for your business
1. Have a Loyalty Program
Customers love being rewarded for shopping at a particular store, and loyalty programs provide just that. In addition, it costs much less than trying to acquire new customers, so it is a no-brainer for retainer strategies. As a bonus, most of these rewards programs also require that the customer provide their email address, allowing you to have another way of staying in contact with your customers.
2. Send Emails
An obvious one but still effective. Discounts are always lovely for getting a customer to come back and buy from you again, so if they bought something on sale, why not send them an offer for more merchandise at a discounted price? Another great strategy is sending emails about products they may be interested in purchasing, such as cases, USB cables and other accessories. Don't try bombarding them with emails, but just enough will help remind them of your store and the product and services you offer.
3. Social Media Integration
Social media has become one of the best ways to grow your business, and it is the most popular social sharing method for content. The more active you are on different platforms such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest, the more exposure your online store gets, which will result in an increase in sales through multiple channels.
4. Social Media Advertising
Just like we discussed with social media integration, this is a great way to keep driving traffic to your website and get customers interested in purchasing from you again, even if they did not purchase their first purchase from one of your social media advertisements. In addition, you can easily retarget customers who have already purchased from you by email or display advertising with this strategy. Then, when they go back to check out other products on sale, there will be ads for similar products.
5. Ask for Feedback
Customers love feeling like they are valued, and the easiest way to make them feel this way is by asking them for feedback about your store. You can ask how they found your website, was their experience good (you think it was), and if there were any issues, what could you do differently next time around? The goal here isn't necessarily to get new ideas on improving the customer shopping experience but instead, just get that positive mention out into the world.
6. Be Transparent
This aligns with asking for customer feedback, but it can be taken a step further. For example, let your customers know when you will be closing your doors when your significant sales events are coming up, or let them know when you have new merchandise arriving in stock. Transparency builds trust, and having a connection with your customers keeps them coming back because they feel like you genuinely care about their satisfaction as a customer.
7. Keep Your Prices Affordable
Everybody loves finding a good deal, so why not keep your prices low? This also includes offering coupon codes that give people discounts on products which gives the impression that your items are already discounted. There is a fine line with this strategy, though, since you don't want to devalue your products too much and make them second-rate, which can result in lower quality service as well as inferior quality products.
8. Stay Active on Social Media
Keeping social media active helps your business and shows customers that you care about what they have to say. This will remind people of how easy it was for them to purchase from you before and that there is a better chance of running into a sale if they shop with you again. In addition, having a sense of urgency for sales pushes more traffic towards you, which turns into new inventory being purchased by those sitting on the fence about making a purchase.
9. Reward Loyalty
Many people say that the best form of advertising for a business is word-of-mouth or referrals from current customers. This is true, and you can encourage this by rewarding your loyal customers through free shipping, product enhancements, money off their next purchase etc. For example, if someone spends $100 at your store, give them 5% back in rewards that can be used on their next purchase. These types of incentives result in happier customers who feel valued and also gets them talking positively about you to their family and friends.
10. Loud and Clear
To retain ecommerce customers, you need to make sure that they don't have any unanswered questions about your product or service. Use an FAQ section on your store to answer the most asked questions people tend to have when shopping online. You can also use Q&A software that allows potential customers to ask their questions, which you can then answer publicly online for everyone else's benefit.
Conclusion :
There are a variety of ways to retain customers for your ecommerce business. We’ve outlined some of the most effective methods,which includes Implementing a loyalty program, sending emails, using social media integration and advertising, collecting reviews, being transparent with pricing and shipping information, and having an active presence on social media platforms. By following these tips and experimenting with different strategies, you can find what works best for your ecommerce store and keep those valuable customers coming back for more.
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