How to Keep Customers Coming Back to Your E-Commerce Website 

We already know that customer acquisition and retention is a never-ending battle that is easy to lose. Increasing the traffic with digital marketing practices seems to be the only way to get more customers coming to a website. According to a recent survey, it was found that returning customers make up 40% of the revenue while representing only 8% of visitors, posing a great opportunity to increase customer retention rates to support revenue growth.

Kevin
VP – Digital Marketing

Returning customers are nine times more likely to place an order as compared to new customers. This makes it extremely important to have strategies and resources to retain and influence customers that are coming back to your site. Big players, like Amazon, generate substantial revenue from repeating customers. It is estimated that increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. These figures say enough to prove how having more repeat customers can be the make it or break it difference.

Your customers often swing to & fro, meaning they easily get distracted and influenced when something interesting or better than your service or product is brought in front of them, such as offers & discounts, ease of shopping, new range of products, out of the box return and refund policy, quicker delivery and more. So, what exactly you should do to make your customers come back to your e-commerce site to shop?

A Customer’s Delight is Your Business’s Flight

When you please your customers, making them happy during and after their shopping experience, your business will take off to new heights. In simple terms, the shopping experience should be fun and interesting for customers so that they keep buying from you rather than taking their business elsewhere. To achieve this, there are many techniques, but the methods that play to your brand and the product’s strengths are going to be the most successful. There are certain ways that support customer engagement and yield unbelievable results for merchants, such as:

Let Customers Write for You

An online store that sells makeup and beauty products allows customers to give back to the community by sharing product reviews, including photo uploads. This helps potential customers in their buying decisions as well as in promoting the authenticity of reviews. Encourage your customers to write about their buying experience, product quality and the results.

Trial and Test

Are your customers able to try or test a product before they make a purchase? The e-Commerce industry relies on customer experiences and when an online store allows customers to check the merchandise before purchase, chances of a sale much higher. For instance, a company selling health supplements may provide free samples of other products with every order. It is a brilliant way of promoting products, educating customers and bringing a little bit of extra joy for buyers in each delivery.

What’s New, What’s Unique?

There are brands that sell new and unique fashionable clothing, footwear and accessories that one cannot find anywhere else. Customers often get excited about such uniqueness and exclusivity. Many are always on a lookout to grab something that is new to the market or that few own. To benefit from the tendency of these buyers, online sellers often first advertise about launches and then market them with invite-only sales, emails to loyal customers, on their websites and on social networks. A perfect example that capitalizes such opportunity is by many smartphone makers.

Innovation in Packaging

For a customer, the shopping experience continues all the way until the arrival of the item and the customer unboxes it. Online stores need to make sure that the item they are shipping is packed carefully to avoid any logistical damages. Plus, brands that go extra mile to make their customers happy invest in making their experience luxurious by selecting quality packaging that has room for every different part of the product. For customers, they feel special when they carefully unbox and unwrap it. Some even consider packaging boxes made up of recycled materials as they contribute towards a more green environment.

There will be many things that you can incorporate to boost customer retention. The key is to identify which ones would serve the purpose for you. Not everything that gives results to some would give the same results to you. Start small, then keep adding and expand. Your efforts will help to improve your conversion rates for new customers as well as returning ones.