There are various reasons why repeat customers are better than new ones. Research indicates that repeat customers spend as much as 67% more than new ones. What’s more, it costs five times more to attract new customers than to keep existing ones. That alone is enough reason to pay attention to strategies that will keep your customers coming back for more.
Get Pete to repeat
Return customers don’t only cost less and deliver high ROI. They become ambassadors and influencers that will help you grow your ecommerce business. Some neuroscience comes in handy here. Once a customer has had a positive experience, the brain is wired to repeat the experience. Add removing a pain point or solving a real problem, and you’re everybody’s hero for not just one day. According to Russell Kern, founder and CEO of KERN, how you deliver messages is also important. Customers want to know they are important and valued. KERN specialises in personalisation that delivers continuous customer revenue at scale, so he should know.“If the repeat communication lacks relevance, creativity, or reminders of the gains solved by repurchasing a given product, the consumer will likely switch brands given all the other options available within a given category,” he says.
Content marketing vs paid campaigns
People are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re complicated and change their behaviour regularly. You need to build and keep their trust. If you’re a company that sells lawns, there’s nothing wrong with posting videos on how to clean your gutters before the rainy season is on top of you. It relates to your product and delivers added value to your customer. It also helps to build your brand as a trusted expert on all things garden related. We live in the age of email overload, but there’s nothing wrong with regular newsletters. If you share valuable content, yours will be one of the few emails people open. Did you know that seven out of ten consumers prefer learning about brands through content marketing rather than paid campaigns?
My pleasure
As good experiences can make or break a brand, so can bad ones. Nothing turns a customer off a brand or product like a bad experience. And people love to tell others about it. Because people have so many options, they won’t tolerate bad customer service. They’ll go somewhere else and never come back. Ironically, great customer service is known to turn terrible products into best sellers just because customers trust the brand. And it goes far beyond superficial, please and thank you. When customers want to get hold of you, you need to be there 24/7, 365 days a year. Provide multiple contact details on your website. Make sure it’s not hidden or people need a search warrant to get it out of you. AI and machine learning are great as long as it works. Don’t put customers in an endless loop, listening to bad music in or tell them how important their business is to you while making them wait to speak to you. Do it. Don’t talk about it. Use your Q and A section to help people help themselves. Share tips, tricks and helpful hints on social media. What you give out is what you’ll get back. Respond to comments, even complaints, and use a ‘real’ tone of voice. Not something a computer wrote, and you repeat ad infinitum.
As your brand scales, invest in software that keeps customer records on file. If someone contacts you with a complaint, don’t ask them to repeat themselves. Have a record of everything said and done previously. And follow up with them to hear if they are satisfied after you’ve solved their problem. Stick to promises you made before the sale. Don’t change your tune mid-song and backtrack on promises.
The above might seem logical, but you’ll be amazed how many companies forget the most basic principles once the money starts rolling in. Speaking of money and customer service. Do you know that Truevo is known for its exceptional customer service? Speak to us about flexible payment solutions, for multiple channels, in over 150 countries. Get started with faster payments, easy set-up and complete security. Drop us a line. We can’t wait to walk the talk with you.
