Many studies prove that acquiring new customers is more costly than retaining existing ones. In addition, studies show that existing customers account for a larger portion of a company’s profits.
That’s why it’s so important to focus your digital marketing on existing customers as much as you do on new ones, if not more. Strengthening these relationships will result in more conversions and ultimately drive business success.
Use these digital marketing techniques to retain customers and turn them into loyal brand advocates.
Create and market a loyalty program
Customers often need more than quality products and good customer service to return to your business. A loyalty program entices customers to shop again because they are rewarded for doing so.
The first step is to create the program. What types of rewards do your australia phone number resource customers want? How do they save them? How can they cash them out? Where can they access their rewards?
You can create a completely online loyalty program using loyalty program software.
Marketing your loyalty program is the next important step. Your customers will not know your loyalty program exists if you don’t tell them about it.
We’ll talk more about this later in the article, but use your customer data to determine which digital marketing channels your current customers use the most and what type of content they engage with. Then, you can spread the word and increase signups by publishing content about your loyalty program on the channels they use most.
Customers will come back if you give them a reason to do so. Start with a loyalty program that you market relentlessly to convince customers to stay loyal to your business .
Benefits of email marketing
Source: Smith.ai
Implement a post-purchase email marketing campaign
What happens when a customer buys something from your business? If you only send an initial “thank you for your purchase” email and leave your customer alone until their product arrives, you’re approaching the post-purchase experience wrong.
The communication you have with a customer from the moment they make a purchase until they receive their product is crucial to customer retention. Letting them know what to expect every step of the way helps them feel like they’re getting more than just a sale.
A post-purchase email marketing campaign starts the existing customer experience with your business on the right foot.
How to create a post-purchase email marketing campaign?
First, determine approximately how long it takes for your customers to receive your products. This is how long your post-purchase email marketing campaign should be.
For example, if it typically takes a week and a half for a customer to receive a product, you want your emails to be spread out over that time frame.
Next, decide how many emails are appropriate for the campaign. Following the example above, emailing every day for a week and a half will likely irritate your customer. Instead, email them only at key milestones in their post-purchase journey.
Your first email should come immediately after a purchase is made. Send the customer a personalized thank you note for their purchase.
This will help them feel special and will ignite their desire to return to your brand. You can also do subtle advertising of your other products or services to keep your business at the top of the customer’s mind.
Keep your thank you note simple and send the customer any other information they need to follow up on their purchase.
Send the next email in your campaign when the item ships. Give the customer a tracking number and simple instructions to track their package.
After that, send an email when the product is delivered. Ask your customer to confirm that they received their package. Let them know what to do if they don’t receive it. You can also send a link to a blog post or video that will help them use your product better.
Then, end your email campaign with a customer satisfaction survey.
Send customer satisfaction surveys
When you know what keeps your customers from being satisfied, you can improve your customer retention efforts. Having your customers fill out customer satisfaction surveys helps with this.
Send your survey in the final email of your post-purchase email marketing campaign. It should be sent 3-5 days after your customer receives their product, so they have a chance to fully use it.
Begin the email by thanking them again for purchasing something from your business. Let the customer know they can reach you with any questions or concerns and how to do so.
Then, direct them to the survey. Ask them to take the survey if they have time to help you improve the customer experience. Tell them how long it is, how to participate, and clearly highlight the link to your survey.
A discount code or coupon that gives them a discount on their next purchase in exchange for taking the survey can be a good incentive.
But don’t insist on taking the survey. At the end of the day, you can’t control whether your customers will take your survey or not. You can only get them to do it with a polite request and a motivating incentive.
Take advantage of abandoned cart campaigns too
Alongside your post-purchase email marketing campaign, an abandoned cart campaign can also help your customer retention efforts.
If customers are happy with their first purchase from your business, they will return to your website to browse your catalog once more and add the items they like to their cart.
However, many of these customers will abandon their carts before completing their purchases. They may be waiting for payday. Something unexpected may have distracted them from their purchase.
Whatever the reason, the person has at least shown renewed interest in your products. Don’t give up on that. Use an abandoned cart email campaign to remind them of what they did and re-encourage them to make another purchase.
Set up an email to be automatically sent to an existing customer whenever they abandon their cart. Show them what they left in their cart and tell them what they missed by not completing the purchase.
Also include a personal discount code they can use to get a small percentage off their abandoned cart purchase.
A customer may abandon their cart, but you can make sure they remember with an automated abandoned cart email campaign.
Personalized marketing benefits
Source: techtarget.com
Create Marketing Campaigns Specific to Existing Customers
A loyalty program and effective use of email campaigns will make a difference in your customer retention efforts. However, focusing on personalized marketing campaigns and content across your other digital marketing channels should be at the core of customer retention.
Consistently delivering personalized content and promotions helps customers feel like you’ve taken the time to get to know them and what they need. As a result, they’ll be more likely to continue doing business with you rather than a competitor who knows nothing about them.
Additionally, existing customers consume just as much content as potential customers. Take advantage of this with campaigns that speak directly to past buyers and those most likely to make a new purchase.