Customer value optimization (CVO) is a process that puts a premium on the customer journey. It endeavors to create loyal customers via the streamlining and optimization of their e-commerce experience with a brand. The end goal is to ensure that marketing activities yield the most ROI.
To achieve sustained growth, CVO focuses on key variables. These include traffic, conversion rates, and average order value. These variables correspond to the entire lifecycle of a customer. And businesses are advised to tackle them with the same level of attention.
That’s most true for e-commerce businesses operating in an otherwise competitive market, where while it’s easy to attract new customers, ensuring repeat transactions proves to be an entirely different matter.
Studies have shown that if you boost customer loyalty by at least 5%, it’s possible to increase profits between 25% and 95%. Now those are tempting numbers. And via CVO, you can make those numbers a reality for your business.
What You Need to Know About CVO
Some businesses devote all of their marketing efforts to getting the attention of their target market. Herein lies the first big mistake you could make as a business person. Sure, you need to tap into the right people to listen to what your brand has to say. But there’s more to it than that. And if your marketing strategy stops being aggressive at the point of traffic creation, you’re bound to suffer high bounce rates. That is where CVO comes in.
CVO zeroes in on customer experience as a whole. That encompasses the time customers learn about a particular product to when they make a purchase. CVO does not forget about the day after as well. It recognizes the fact that businesses cannot succeed exclusively with new customers. Building a loyal customer base is of the essence.
Brands that score high in customer experience outperform competitors by leaps and bounds.
Know Your Customers
You cannot improve customer experience if you do not know what customers want. To jumpstart a CVO-focused marketing plan, data collection comes in handy.
- Know your customers’ perceived value
You need to position your brand in a way that aligns with your target market’s perceived value. Some customers value affordability. And if that’s the market segment you want to tap, it’s in your best interest to price your products as competitively as allowed by production costs.
- Get social
You have social media at your disposal. Not only will these platforms give you insights into the behavior of your target market, but they also allow your brand to build a sense of camaraderie with your audience. Keep abreast of trends and cycles. Use the insights you gather to improve marketing efforts.
- Monitor website traffic
Be wary of a high bounce rate. You want your customers, both old and new, sufficiently engaged while surfing your website. A high bounce rate means something there does not work in line with your goals. Locate those and carry out necessary improvements.
- Mind pain points and life triggers
Being sensitive to customers’ pain points allows you to better tailor what you offer them in a way that suits their needs. The same goes for life triggers that affect how a customer spends. Life triggers may include the emergence of a global pandemic, for example.
Ways to Improve Customer Value
CVO-driven marketing may rely on the following tried-and-tested strategies:
- Target the right audience
Customers come in three tiers: low, medium, and high-value. If CVO is your priority, your best bet is to focus on high-value customers. They are the ones who bring you the highest profits. That does not mean you should neglect medium-value customers, which make up a huge chunk of any target market.
- Be thoughtful of user experience
Your website should be easy to use. It does not hurt if form complements function, too. Indiscriminate pop-ups will turn off a customer, so use those sparingly and wisely.
- Improve customer service
Customers who may need additional information before they can decide to purchase from your brand should be able to reach you with ease. The same goes for customers who have already made a purchase and want to track the progress of their transaction.
- Create the right ads
You have many options, including branded search ads, Google shopping ads, and affiliate marketing. The secret is to mix and match ads that can best command your target audience’s attention.
- Come up with a unique value proposition
Chances are a thousand other businesses offer the same products as you do. To stand out, you need a unique value proposition. What sets your similar product apart from the rest?
In Closing
While businesses vary and the same marketing strategies might not yield the same result for two different brands, CVO has got one thing unarguably right. That is the importance of customer experience when it comes to growth prospects. If you want to attract customers who will stay with you for the long haul, you need to ensure that every journey they take with your brand is a fulfilling one from start to finish