It’s one thing to win a customers, quite another to keep them interested. Turning a one-off purchase into repeat business takes skills, effort and attention to details; luckily there area number of strategies to getting it right.
By Kestrel Lemen, Marketing Strategist, Bronto Software Europe
Read On:
Emails that entice customers back
Wake up dormant customers
Tech that turns browsers into customers
Who’s better: new or returning customers?
In terms of a return on your investment it is more valuable to keep existing customers engaged than acquire new customers. This is typically because the cost of acquisition far exceeds the cost of maintaining a relationship.
Your existing customers, especially those who have purchased recently have you top of mind. They are prime for engaging again especially with some kind of automated post purchase messaging.
Are existing customers more likely to come back?
Having a steady stream of prospects to market to is essential for driving revenue. I usually call this developing a ‘contact growth engine’.
This can be achieved through something as simple as having an effective sign up on the site. This is a great example from skin care brand philosophy.com, which really sells the sign up and encourages the first sale.
You need this steady growth because as a constant your audience naturally diminishes over time. It maybe a harsh truth, but one you need to realise and adapt to.
That said, though you lose a small share of your audience every day, you also have extremely valuable existing customers that already know you, have a positive feeling towards you and would, if messaged correctly, purchase straight away.
Your existing customers are your proven contacts. They are vastly more likely to purchase again.
What ways can you use to get customers back?
For me, this boils down to common sense. If you had a shop on the high street and you wanted a customer to come back, what would you do? Give them something to look forward to on their next trip in.
In essence, this is exactly what you can do with basic post purchase messaging. Target those who have just purchased and tempt them to come back for a future purchase. Ask them to review the product they purchased.
Send them information on the product they have just purchased. 60-70% of purchasers don’t return to a buy again for reasons that have nothing to do with the product (KISSMetrics).
Based on that information you can see how it’s vital that you keep the lines of communication open between you and your buyers after a purchase.
Fashion brand JustFab.com doesn’t miss a beat, they send out a great lapsed purchaser message that utilises an incentive, but also has great copy. Hard to resist!
How can email campaigns help?
A custom welcome series based on where someone signed up, whether in store, online or a social media site, will speak directly to the shopper’s experience in a timely fashion.
An online purchaser can be different from someone who always buys in-store so by introducing your brand in a welcome series that extends that first interaction with your brand could help get that first purchase.
Lifecycle messaging is adapting all the time so rather than a website or form being the only triggers, walking past a store, being inside a store or a shopper scanning a code could all be triggers that send email messages to consumers.
Emails that use responsive design to adapt to different devices such as smartphones will also assist with engagement. Responsive design makes it easier for people to understand and potentially act on your email; this can only improve your chances of seeing a conversion or at the minimum site traffic.
For more visit: www.bronto.co.uk
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