Hi there, and welcome to our “Give me 5 Series!” where we share five useful eCommerce tips that will help improve your strategies and pave your way to success.
In our newest episode, Michael Nicholas, Head of Digital Sales, Americas at 2Checkout (now Verifone), talked about five essential tactics you should consider when looking to win back lost customers.
Today’s highly competitive climate is providing consumers with countless choices when looking for a product or a service. This is a challenge for online businesses, as users can easily jump ship to your competitors’ solution.
Let’s have a quick glance at 5 actionable strategies for recovering previously lost clients in order to increase your business’s long-term success:
Filter for Higher Lifetime Value Customers
First things first. Start with a survey so you can gather information. This way you’ll know which candidates to pick, based on their previous behavior and data. The customer categories more likely to return are the ones who:
- Referred your product or services to others.
- Never or seldom issued past complaints.
- Experienced exceptional customer service.
- Canceled only due to budget restraints.
Considering data from the survey, you need to allocate your resources towards the unmet needs of your customers.
Offer Rewards for Loyalty
Implementing a loyalty program can significantly contribute to the recovery of lost clients. Use your creativity and develop a loyalty program powerful enough to bring users back and inspire them to further recommend you to friends and family.
By offering incentives and rewards to customers who continue to engage with your business, you create a compelling reason for previous customers to return. Free shipping, early access, digital gifts, unique promo codes, or more tailored rewards are just a few tactics you can use to ensure powerful brand loyalty.
Offer an Alternative or Share Something New
When nothing seems to be working when trying to re-engage lost customers, it’s time to try out a different strategy and give your customers alternatives.
For some, being subscribed via e-mail may be a bit too much, so giving them the option to keep in touch only through blog updates or social media channels might get you the results you want.
If you can’t just convince your customer to re-purchase your products or services, reaching out and offering an alternative product or service deal may better suit their needs.
Another thing that often works is to use marketing to your advantage. Labeling a product as something “new” will get your customer’s attention and make them excited to try it out.
At the end of the day, keep in mind that whatever you are offering to clients must be relevant to their wants and needs so that you can guarantee a good level of customer satisfaction.
Surprise with Added Upgrades
The joy of receiving unexpected gifts is something we all have in common. Consider offering additional services or features to customers as part of their current deal. This will make them feel they are getting more for what they paid for.
Another way to get around this is paying attention to what issues your customers encounter and add value by resolving them. These improvements not only show how much you value and listen to their opinions, but they are also more likely to label your products or services with the good quality check mark.
Building brand loyalty can include some freebies from time to time to show your customers your appreciation and influence them to rethink coming back.
Keep Customers Impressed and Engaged
Another thing you can include when building your strategy is a proactive attitude. Being one step ahead and approaching customers right before they leave is not only effective but also cost-efficient.
Targeting at-risk customers with re-engagement email campaigns to remind them of your products and services is a good route to explore.
Establishing communication shows you value your current, lost, new customers and their business.
At the heart of it all is a seamless customer experience. If customers have a great experience every time they interact with your business, their satisfaction will stay high all the time.
You now have five key strategies to employ when looking to build long-term relationships with your customers.
Thank you for watching! If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments section. We wish you good luck with finding the right strategies tailored to your business needs and see you next time with more cool new tips!
Interested in discovering extra tips on how to scale your business and retain customer loyalty? Then check out our previous “Give me 5!” episode here!
