The holiday shopping season is here, but have you created a plan for keeping those new customers coming back after December? Retaining new customers is far less expensive than finding new ones and can stabilize your revenue growth long-term. Retailers have a unique opportunity to build a retention strategy during cyber week that will help them increase eCommerce conversions year-round.
Below, we’ll discuss tips from our experts on what you can do now to turn holiday chaos into steady eCommerce revenue
Prioritize the customer experience
The holidays bring a large volume of new shoppers to your site, and you only have one chance to make a first impression. Research shows that 80% of customers feel as though the experience provided by a company is just as important as their products.
Ensure your website is performing at maximum speed through load testing, conduct user testing to see which design elements are more likely to convert, and make sure your teams are prepared for the increase in holiday-specific customer service requests. Customers that have a positive first experience on your site are far more likely to return after the holiday rush.
Create a seamless checkout flow
The global online shopping cart abandonment rate is 70%, making the final step of the customer journey critical. To ensure shoppers don’t abandon their carts before completing a purchase, prioritize small adjustments that have a big impact. Remove as much friction from the checkout process as possible by cutting out unnecessary fields and offering guest checkout. Offer flexible payment methods such as buy-now-pay-later and digital wallet functionality. Allow customers to use autofill for details like billing and shipping addresses, and be as clear as possible regarding shipping fees and taxes so they aren’t surprised at checkout. Lastly, remember that the size, shape, color, and position of the “buy” button can change everything; test different combinations to see which one works best.
Prepare your reverse logistics strategy
With the large influx of orders during the holidays, retailers often also see a major increase in customer returns in January. Ahead of the holiday season, many retailers adjust their return windows to account for holiday gift-giving. You’ll also want to ensure all information regarding your return policy is clearly displayed on your website, so it’s easy for customers to find. For a smoother, frictionless post-purchase experience, ensure your customer support staff are prepared for the increase in holiday-specific requests, such as information about online vs. In-store returns.
Segment your audience to create tailored communications
Customers expect personalized experiences when they shop online. A key piece of this experience is your ongoing customer communication. With a customer relationship management system, your team can automate marketing outreach to highly targeted customer segments. You can start by gathering data from purchase history, customer reviews, surveys, and customer support interactions to learn more about each targeted group.
Set up workflows that trigger personalized marketing communications based on characteristics that go well beyond demographics such as behavioral, including purchase history, brand engagement, and loyalty as well as value-based characteristics including lifetime value and acquisition cost. For example, if your target group is customers who left items in their cart, you can send an abandoned cart email with a limited-time promotion to incentivize them to complete their purchase. Beyond just email, integrate SMS communication into your marketing strategy to further connect with your customers where they already are.
Enroll new customers in loyalty programs
If you don’t already have a strong loyalty program, now is the time to start building one. The best way to encourage loyalty is by rewarding customers directly for it. To capture holiday season shoppers and convert them into brand advocates, consider running holiday-specific campaigns that celebrate your loyalty members. Offer exclusive discounts during peak-season for members only, early access to promotional offers, or points-earning boosts to inspire customers to spend more.
Educate customers on your products
Once a customer has made a purchase, continue to educate them on your brand and products to keep them engaged. You can educate customers on the features and benefits associated with your products through content like blog posts on your site, product walkthroughs or guides in email marketing, and FAQs with influencers or product experts on social media. The more continued value you can offer your customers, the more likely they are to return.
Take advantage of social commerce to engage customers
Social commerce has become a powerful channel for not just marketing your products, but for discovery and checkout, too. Take advantage of the shift towards social shopping by posting value-focused content highlighting the benefits of your products to encourage customers to choose you. This not only helps customers to understand what you offer; it also fosters strong relationships that last beyond the holidays. By displaying ratings and reviews on your product detail pages, you can reward customers for their feedback and use the information they provide to answer customer questions and build trust. Tools like Revere can help you create a ratings and reviews strategy that builds confidence and credibility to help you increase eCommerce conversions year-round.
To build a customer retention strategy that drives revenue growth, you’ll need to start with a strong technical foundation. The right eCommerce platform can handle whatever chaos the holiday season brings, without sacrificing performance. At Virid, we have helped leading retail brands win the holiday season with our Unified Commerce Solution. We combine our eCommerce platform, marketAgility, with deep integration expertise and hands-on partnership to help retailers increase conversions and drive revenue growth. Book a demo to see how Virid can take your eCommerce business to the next level.
