6 Proven Ways Retention Marketing Can Help You Boost Ecommerce Revenue

Kinjal Shah
5 min readJul 22, 2020

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This content was originally published on WebEngage.

Even if you are doing everything right, you can only convert around 2% of the visitors on your ecommerce website. A majority of marketers are well aware of this fact and still spend most of their time and money on customer acquisition marketing. Only 18% of companies focus on retention whereas 44% focus more on acquiring new customers, according to Invesp.

Marketers believe that getting more customers is the most effective way to boost your ecommerce revenue. They tend to forget that there are two other methods that come under retention marketing:

  • Increasing the number or frequency of purchases
  • Increasing the amount or value of the purchase

According to the Invesp report cited earlier, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60–70%. But if it’s a new customer, the probability drops down to 5–20%. Let’s take a closer look at how retention marketing can help to boost ecommerce revenue.

1. Send out highly personalized email recommendations
2. Work with influencers to re-engage existing customers
3. Revamp your loyalty program
4. Re-engage customers through social retargeting
5. Reward your loyal customers for brand advocacy
6. Re-engage customers with attractive and limited-time offers

1. Send out highly personalized email recommendations

Personalized product recommendation emails can increase your click-through rate (CTR) by more than 300%. A higher CTR means that your recipients are engaged and there is a higher chance of getting them to convert. In other words, personalized recommendation emails can not only convert but also retain your customers.

Personalization ensures the relevance of the subject matter. In the case of emails, relevance is the key to achieving a high click-through rate.

Product recommendations can be of different types based on different scenarios. You can recommend your new products, complementary products, best sellers, etc. based on their browsing or purchase history. You can also remind your customers about an abandoned cart.

Amazon regularly sends out product recommendation emails personalized according to the product categories and product types that a customer often buys.

EyeBuyDirect.com got a 175% increase in email CTR and a 30% increase in conversions after adding personalized product recommendations in emails.

Just automate these recommendations and relax. There are many email automation tools like SendGrid or Bronto, which can do this for you according to your pre-set commands.

Remember, you should never go overboard with cross promotions. Your recommendations should benefit both sides. You shouldn’t only focus on selling your products and flood your customer with recommendations. You also have to make sure that the products are highly relevant and valuable for the customers. You can use your data to get a better understanding.

2. Work with influencers to re-engage existing customers

Influencers are generally more powerful than celebrities at engaging an audience. According to a study conducted by Collective Bias, 30% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product recommended by a non-celebrity blogger than by a celebrity.

You can leverage that power on social media to re-engage your existing customers. Do your research and check your customers’ profiles on social media to understand their likes and preferences. Most importantly, understand who they follow.

Based on all this data, find one or more suitable influencers and get them onboard. Platforms like Grin can help you track individual influencer performance. So you can understand which influencer is working best for you.

Influencers can restart the conversation with your inactive customers. They can organize giveaways, post engaging videos, answer questions to keep the brand talk going, etc. Based on their responses in the comments, you can even get insights into why your customers are inactive.

Influencers not only create engagement but also generate direct sales. 74% of people choose brands based on others’ experiences shared on social media. Influencers are a bit like everyday consumers, so the brand experiences they share tend to be considered as trustworthy.

They create compelling content that can influence people’s opinions and decisions about brands. They can even influence your existing customers to find new ways to enjoy your product, which is an excellent way to retain them.

For example, James of food_feels is popular on Instagram for aesthetic food blogging. Nespresso partnered with him and gave him the freedom to do something different with their product. He showcased his unique beverage experience and came up with a recipe that could entice people to use the product in a completely different way.

Image Source: Instagram

3. Revamp your loyalty program

A loyalty program can help you turn your seasonal customers into lifetime customers. Loyal customers are your source of continuous cash flow and they boost ecommerce revenue. If you haven’t invested in your loyalty programs in a while, then now is the time.

There are different types of loyalty programs. You can charge a lump sum amount for a membership or yearly subscription. After spending some money on such programs, customers might not be too keen on switching to a different brand unless it’s really necessary.

For example, Amazon Prime charges $119 per year for membership and provides perks to their members like free express deliveries. Customers will not get perks like free two-day shipping anywhere else without a subscription or extra payment. Therefore, members tend to purchase from Amazon as they have already paid for such perks.

Credit card companies have a handy point system as part of their loyalty program. For every dollar they spend, they often receive a certain amount of points. The points encourage them to spend more.

Apart from these, loyalty programs can have offers and discounts which inspire customers to shop. Staying in touch with your customers and having effective communication at every stage are essential factors in creating a loyalty program. Many loyalty programs are there just for the heck of it and not very beneficial for the customers. Therefore, it’s also very important to see that the program is really beneficial for your customers.

The Starbucks Rewards program is one of the best loyalty programs in the retail sector. First of all, they have an easy user interface for better communication and access to the reward program. Also, the benefits are planned in a very detailed manner to benefit the customer. The rewards range from free coffee, free refills, and free food, to other items like beans, tea, K Cups, etc.

Image Source: Starbucks

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Kinjal Shah
Kinjal Shah

Written by Kinjal Shah

Content Marketer @ WebEngage. Logophile. Creative. Child at heart. Free spirit. Founder @ Smallogs.

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