Customer retention is vital to any business's success. When it comes to marketing, focusing your efforts on retention over acquisition can afford you better results and improved customer satisfaction rates. It is 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire new customers than retain existing ones, and Harvard Business Review states that improving customer retention by just 5% can boost sales by 25 to 95%.
If those figures seem appealing, and let's face it, why wouldn't they? Then, tailoring your marketing to encourage retention should be your primary aim and take up a significant portion of your marketing strategies and budget.
Read on for some effective digital marketing strategies to support customer retention.
Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products or services and will spend over 30% more on average than new customers. If you want to maximize your sales, focusing on upselling or cross-selling to existing customers can be an excellent avenue to pursue.
Let's say a customer is buying swimwear; you can send post-sale upselling emails or abandoned cart emails to entice them back with offers and products relating to their intended purchase. Alternatively, incorporating related products into your checkout or as pop-ups or banners on pages can be effective in supporting cross-selling efforts, too.
These days, everything is connected, and many people will attest to seeing an ad for a product or service despite only thinking of it. While AI hasn't progressed that far just yet, it can help you in sending out retargeting ads via social media for people who have been on your website, engaged with your social media pages, or have recently made a purchase.
Retargeting ads, especially on Facebook, can increase conversions by up to 150%, and while they are generally used for browsers who haven't committed to making a purchase, you can also tailor them for those who have purchased in the past. "We miss you" ads or "returning customer discounts'' for example, can effectively encourage existing customers to click back through to your website.
If you sell a product or a service that can spawn repeat purchases, such as cleaning products, pet food, etc., then offering a subscription model can ensure you create a way for people to make those ongoing purchases without them having to do anything past setting up a frequency and choosing their products/services. Weaving this into your marketing campaign can yield greater results when focused on existing customers.
Many companies find success by offering small discounts on subscription models and recurring purchases as a way to entice people to make not only a small saving on the initial purchase but also on future purchases.
Ensure you are using an effective ecommerce payment processing gateway to help you process payments and collect payments when they are due to reduce the effort required on the part of the customer.
You cannot understand why people choose to make repeat purchases or would rather not without their explicit feedback. Asking for feedback is the best way to gauge what is working, where things are going wrong, and what needs to be brought to your attention. This insight is invaluable and something you are actively collecting on each and every sale.
Create a feedback loop wherein you ask for feedback, you respond appropriately and then act on it with a nod back to the customers and an update on how you have improved and used their input within the company. The more a customer feels valued, the more likely they are to stick with you and become a loyal repeat customer. You can then use these improvements within future marketing campaigns incorporating UGC into this. If you need some more information on asking for customer feedback or marketing tips in general, you can look on a blog like Notifyio to get the information that you need.
CRM (customer relationship management) software allows you to track each and every engagement between your company and the customer. You can effectively log each sale, spend, and all communications and store notes such as feedback or takeaways from conversations that will be important for building relationships.
Once you have this in place, you can use this information to tailor your service, recognize patterns, and improve your relationship with them. Again, if a customer feels valued, they will remain loyal to you, and a good CRM can be instrumental in helping you take your customer service to the next level and making your marketing more personalized and effective to drive the results you need.
Customer retention is the backbone of every company, and when it comes to digital marketing, focusing your efforts on retention over acquisition can help you make the most of opportunities and build a loyal customer base that comes back time and time again. These 5 tips can be effective strategies to try to help you boost retention and support ongoing sales while maximizing your marketing budget.
