Online business management presents its own set of challenges. Unlike with brick-and-mortar stores, you can’t just attract random people from the street to enter and browse your wares. Because of this, many business owners focus on advertising and methods to acquire new customers. However, sometimes they forget that retention is often the best advertising method, as happy return customers are likely to spread word of your company. After all, word-of-mouth is still the best advertising.
As a business owner, you likely know that retaining your customers is so much cheaper than acquiring new ones. Those who invest time and effort into learning customer retention tactics are going to be the ones who survive in the uneasy markets that we’re currently experiencing. If your customer retention isn’t up to par, here are five tactics you can start implementing today. Improve your email marketing, personalize your customer’s experiences, implement text messaging, keep active social media profiles, and offer a reward program. These avenues will help you retain customers online.
You Have Got to Be Email Marketing
First, you have to be using email marketing. While email marketing may seem like an old-time tactic for most, it’s a thriving method of customer retention. Your customers will be more likely to continue to purchase products or services from your company in the future if you consistently remind them that you’re still there. Email marketing allows you to keep your past customers engaged with your business. Whether it’s sending out recurring emails for weekly specials or offering discount codes after a specified period of no engagement, you can ensure your customers know you’re still in operation. Make sure that you have included email marketing in your retention strategy.
Personalize Their Experience
In this age of constant media overload, a personalized experience goes a long way in attracting customers’ attentions. People want to be treated as individuals and are more inclined to do business with those who treat them as such. Your customers will feel that their unique individual talents and desires are being recognized if you create a more personalized shopping experience for them. For example, Amazon uses a recommended product widget on their checkout page to showcase products the consumer is most likely to enjoy. Consider implementing similar strategies on your website.
Look into Peer-to-Peer Texting
Text messages are one of the most effective forms of marketing, especially for return customers. If you look at the statistics regarding text messages, they state that 97 percent of text messages get opened. That means that 97 out of every 100 customers that you send a text message to will actually read it. This is why p2p texting is becoming such a popular practice for businesses trying to enhance their customer retention. You can text customers about current sales or give them promo codes. Texting also works well because customers usually opt-in, which means they will be less likely to feel the messages are spammy.
Keep Active Social Media Profiles
Make sure you keep active on Social Media or have a team dedicated to it. Social media is a great way to connect with clients without using traditional tactics like phone calls. They allow customers to read about your business or what you’re doing at any time that is convenient for them. Instead of sending them an email or text message, they will connect with your company by scrolling their social media notifications. This is considered a non-intrusive form of retention for customers. It also helps your customers feel that they are creating a relationship with you and your brand.
Offer A Reward Program
Finally, a great way to gain customer retention is to offer a reward program. This type of program can involve things like dollars, points, or stars that customers earn with each purchase. These units usually are exchanged for free products, shipping, or credit towards your goods or services. A reward program helps return customers feel good about returning to your business.
Improving customer retention for online shopping is a must to stay active in the future of online business. There are many different tactics you can implement, including the five above. We recommend trying to implement as many as possible to increase your retention rates as an online business.