eCommerce Know-How

How To Keep Customers

You have your customer.  Somehow, they found you – whether through search, paid search, advertising, affiliate marketing, or any of the myriad tactics you used.  Excellent.  They know who you are and, more importantly, they know that you have products or services that they want and are willing to pay for.  Now that you have them, how do you keep them?

Keeping customers, while so important, is often a neglected strategy.  Customer retention gives you the biggest bang for your marketing dollar, as these are the people most likely to buy again and most likely to spend the most.  Here are some ideas you should definitely consider to retain your “priceless” customer.   These are listed from basic to more sophisticated; you figure out what works for you in the evolution of your site.

  • Usability.  No matter how “cool” or “elegant” your site looks, if it is a confusing website and doesn’t work well, you’ll lose customers.
    • Web design today is very nuanced and sophisticated.  There is a real science to what works and what doesn’t.  In addition, your customers are well-trained to expect things to work in a certain way that provides expected results and a good user experience.  They are online all the time and on the sites of your competitors.  Be sure yours doesn’t suffer by comparison.
  • Community.  Make your customer part of your community.  Make them feel that they are invested in your success.   The more they see others participate, the more likely that they will participate, return, and purchase.
    • Give them an easy way to tell their friends about their great find. 
    • Ratings & Reviews is a popular way to get customers to come back and also to feel ownership  
    • User forums so that your customers can share their stories.
  • Be a resource for them.  Most customers start with using the internet as a resource.  Give them valuable, useful content so that they will view your site as the best place to go for good information and, subsequently, the best place to buy.   Examples of ways to do this are:
    • how-to info (much like this article!)
    • articles
    • trend-spotting
    • product videos
  • Customer Service.  The quickest way to lose a customer permanently is to give them poor customer service.
    • Be sure you have easy ways for them to contact you, that you respond quickly and that you have the will, the process and the tools to address and solve any problems.
    • Customer service can be traditional call centers or online customer service, with many tools like Click-to-Call and Click-to-Chat
    • Customers also appreciate being informed.  “Email me when back in stock” is not only helpful to them but it is business for you.
  • Loyalty programs.  Reward your customers for “good behavior”. 
    • Make them feel special and that their business is important to you.  Not to mention, studies show that returning customers are often to quickest to buy and likely to spend the most.
    • There are all types of loyalty programs, from a discount toward your next purchase to membership points to coupons, membership points, free shipping, discounts and other promotions.
  • Personalization / Customization:  Make your customer feel valued by “recognizing” them.
    •  You can recognize them by name, by the kinds of things they are interested in, by remembering their history.    There are all kinds of tools to help you do that.
  • Reach out to them.  There are many ways to communicate with your customers that are not on your website.
    • The most traditional and still very effective is Email Marketing
    • Then there are all the (ever-increasing) multitude of social media tools: blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.  I’m sure three more popped up since I wrote this.  As this is all new, there is no real playbook for this.   In addition, the audience is sophisticated and cynical and quick to recognize when they are being played.  So, the game has to change pretty quickly.

Do you have strategies to share?

Other questions?  Contact us.

Good articles and blogs on the topic – let us know.

Need more hands-on help?  Talk to one of our consultants.

HOTPOLL

What do you use as your primary web browser?








EssentialKnowHow