As you first build up your dream eCommerce store, the focus needs to be on providing a stellar customer experience to transform your new eCommerce buyers into loyal customers. Transforming first-time eCommerce buyers into loyal customers is a difficult task and even established sites have difficulty holding on to their customers and maintaining a loyalty base. For numerous online retail platforms, sales remain healthy but stagnant. The problem is a lack of repeat patronage. Even though retailers pour out large sums of money on marketing and promotional campaigns (like affiliates, influencers, PR, SEO, and paid ads), a lack of retention strategies and nurture practices signifies maximum purchases through first-time buyers. Companies typically spend more money on luring new buyers than retaining the old ones. Research has established that repeat customers while constituting just 8 percent of the customer base can generate up to 40 percent of overall revenue. Hence, it makes sense to engage in customer retention approaches to encourage repeat purchases. You can take the help of these proven strategies to transform first-time e-commerce buyers into repeat customers.
Create a Great First-time Buying Experience
A customer connects with you the first time he places an order at your site. Make this experience special by going the extra mile.
- As soon as a product is bought, don’t just send a regular confirmation message (with an order number and link to trace it) but inject personality into it by engaging in a branded email with a company logo and a beautiful message.
- Make the purchase a jubilant affair by sending a thankyou e-card by the company CEO or other prominent personality and focus on guaranteed satisfaction.
- Provide regular updates on the status of the product to ensure customer awareness of your efforts.
- Put glamour into the unboxing experience through branded, custom messaged mailer or box. Wrap the merchandise in attractive covering paper and include a personalized thank-you card. You can also put in a little surprise in the form of a free gift, sticker, or a special discount targeted towards the next purchase.
- Make exchange and returns easy through upfront information found in the help center, FAQs, and landing page sent via SMS or email. It will help the customers to save on their time and the effort would be appreciated. Make the return policy as simple as possible and with minimal expense or stress involved.
- Share insights and tips on effective product usage through online video, pictures, or a written set of guidelines. It will make the customer aware of all the product uses and he will thank you with a repeat purchase.
- Deliver regular customized product recommendations to encourage future purchases from your site.
Develop a Loyalty Program
Many one-time purchasers visit a new site lured by the attractive deals offered by them. Usually, when a site is launched, it offers promo codes on its website to entice new customers to increase the sale. You can take advantage of this buyer tendency to develop a loyalty program and reward your customers with exclusive deals and discounts on the basis of their previous purchases. The customer could also have the option to use this discount on the next purchase or save up the points by buying further items and together redeeming all the points by purchasing heavily discounted items at a later date. A loyalty program would ensure consistent visits by the customers who would be delighted to get a discount on every consecutive purchase.
Set up a Community Page
An eCommerce website usually targets a specific set of purchasers. For example, one eCommerce site sells baby clothes and are meant for new moms, while another sells animal products and is meant for pet owners. Consequently, retail websites connect people of the same needs. By providing a platform to form a community and address questions and needs related to this specific community, the customers would experience a feeling of connectedness with the site and visit it repeatedly to get new information and product. You can even use the community to get insight into what types of products are desired by the consumers.
Maintain a Content Page
Today most eCommerce sites tend to maintain a blog or a content page. The blog is an efficient way to improve the page ranking on a search engine and also acts as an informative page where the customers can find many of the answers they seek in their everyday lives. The blog must be focused on the theme of the eCommerce site so that it attracts the right kind of traffic to the website. A well-written and informative content would tempt the purchaser to visit the site again and again. The blog would also maintain your authority on the product that you are selling and project you as a knowledgeable person with whom the customer would like to connect. Besides blogs, you can also include new forms of content to share with your patrons such as podcasts, video content, long-form content and guest posting.
Utilize User-Generated Content
Today the smart online purchaser doesn’t just go by friends’ recommendations but also look up product reviews before indulging in a specific product purchase. Hence, it is necessary to have a good number of consumer reviews to authenticate the website and its products. Encourage all your customers to share their purchase experience by sharing photos, videos, or written content. User-generated content (UGC) acts as proof that other people have bought the product and found it useful.
Social Media and email Marketing
Today social media is emerging as the strongest platform to connect with your clients. Many social media sites like Facebook and Twitter provide the option of cheap paid promotions where you can target your preferred audience based on their ethnicity, gender, age group, and other criteria. Here you could share information about fresh product launches along with discounts and deals, and get instantaneous likes and comments. In fact, the moment you decide to alter or update a particular advertising campaign, it could be implemented without further delay. You can choose options like paid tweets and promotions. However, you would need to be committed and regularly monitor the sites to respond instantly to consumer concerns.
Next to social media, email marketing is emerging as a sophisticated marketing tool to maintain a relationship with your customers. The first-time customers share their emails during the time of the purchase to get a link to the order status. You can store this email in specific categories such as product preference, gender, geography, or any other segment and send personalized emails to pique their curiosities and convince them for a repeat purchase.