E-Commerce: Customer Retention Is The Key, But Customer Acquisition Is Still Very Relevant!

In an earlier post we covered the importance of customer retention in the e-commerce industry. There is no doubt that customer retention is far more profitable and important than customer acquisition for a majority of e-commerce brands. All said and done, if you don’t have enough customers, no matter how many retention tactics you put in place, an increase in revenue will remain a distant dream. Customer acquisition is still very relevant and will remain so in years to come.

Deliver what you promise: the product must speak for itself

The first step that goes a long way in establishing a customer’s trust in your brand is ensuring that you deliver what you promise. If you say you sell apparels online you must come across as a business that does just that. You can’t be seen as selling groceries alongside apparels as soon as the potential customer lands on your website. Your products have to be in the line of sight. Also, your products must speak for themselves. Only when customers are satisfied with the quality of the product that they bought from your e-commerce portal will they ever consider buying from you again.

Use the customer’s preferred mode of payment

This one is a little tricky but not impossible to ascertain. If you are trying to solve a problem as hard as running a successful e-commerce business in this day and age then you are also expected to solve problems that allow your business to take the next big leap. For e-commerce, and this includes m-commerce, the mode of payment has often been a bone of contention.

As a smart e-commerce business team one of the most important goals for you should be understanding the preferred mode of payment for your customers. While this can often be subject to a region’s law, you must focus on making the transaction process as simple and hassle free as possible for your customer. A little research on preferred modes of payment in a region will certainly go a long way in helping you win some customers.

Do not ignore logistics: reverse logistics is just as important as timely delivery

Most e-commerce players in the market today take logistics very seriously, as should you. But there is one aspect of logistics that a number of these brands still ignore, and this ignorance on their part often brings about bad publicity. This aspect is reverse logistics. While ensuring timely delivery of products is essential if you do not have an effective reverse logistics solution you stand the chance of losing not only your potential customer also a returning customer.

Reverse logistics serve not only the customer, who is already peeved at having received a damaged product, but also the e-commerce brands. It allows a quick turn-around time thereby assuring the customer that their complaint was taken into cognizance at the earliest while at the same time also allowing the e-commerce brand to provide a quicker solution than what would have been possible in the absence of reverse logistical support. It averts a potential fall-out with the customer and is a win-win situation  for both sides. If done well, this could prove to be a strategic masterstroke giving your brand the advantage over your competitors who do not have an effective reverse logistics system in place.

 Get e-mail subscribers, lots of them

In 2015 this might come across as an age old method of marketing to potential and existing customers but one cannot ignore its relevance as an effective customer acquisition strategy. Make sure you give visitors to your website the option to register for a newsletter or avail of a discount. There is a risk of doing too much here. Do not go overboard with your subscribe to our amazing newsletter message, make it visible on your website, but ensure that it is optional and does not irk the customer by taking away from their online window shopping experience.

Once they subscribe you will have ample opportunities to convert a subscriber into a customer. E-mail is more than just another online marketing method. Make sure it is part of your customer acquisition strategy.

Customer loyalty programs are the online equivalents of – Thank you for shopping with us, do visit us again!

Customer loyalty programs are a great way of rewarding customers for their continued patronage and support. Remember that even though the shopping experience is digital in essence, at the other end of the screen are people looking to avail your services for something that truly interests them. And people love gifts. Loyalty programs also double up as an important customer retention strategy. Rewards can be anything from a discount on a future purchase to a gift voucher of some sort.

E-commerce brands must realize that even though the cost of customer acquisition can be daunting not acquiring enough new customers is a mistake they cannot afford to make.