We love connecting with merchants. We also love hearing from other Shopify Partners. And what better way to do this than at a Shopify Meetup. Last Tuesday, LoyaltyLion made its way to the iconic Harvey Nichols store in Birmingham’s Mailbox for exactly that.
In the wake of the announcement of Mailchimp and Shopify’s split, our gracious host, Blend Commerce, brought together three Shopify partners to tackle the subject of customer retention. LoyaltyLion, Octane AI and Klaviyo gave their insights on the topic. It was an enlightening evening with helpful advice and support from all the industry experts.
This blog will take you through the three key areas we covered in our presentation.
They are:
- Retention across the customer lifecycle
- The challenges impacting retention
- LoyaltyLion’s top tips and tactics
Retention across the customer lifecycle
So why focus on customer retention? The answer lies in the customer lifecycle. Research has shown that a customer’s lifetime value increases an impressive amount with every repeat purchase. The diagram below shows the likelihood of a customer making a repeat purchase between sales.
As you can see, the likelihood almost doubles after the second purchase and consistently increases beyond that.
This means that customers become more valuable as they move across the customer lifecycle.
Challenges impacting retention
As it costs five times less to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one it’s clear that shoppers that already know and love your brand are incredibly valuable. But why is customer retention such a challenge?
One reason is that e-commerce by nature is impersonal. Naturally, physical stores are far easier for engaging with customers than online ones. It is also becoming harder than ever to reach customers. The ever-expanding prevalence of marketing and advertising campaigns are starting to have a negative effect as customers are becoming desensitised to them.
As well as this, customers are demanding more and more from merchants. Once one company raises the bar for personalisation or the customer experience, suddenly all others are expected to match it. And to top it all off, e-commerce businesses are working in the most competitive market in the world, growing at a rate of 13% every year.
These challenges may seem daunting, but remember, knowledge is power. Awareness of the challenges that affect customer retention is the first step towards getting more from your existing customers.
LoyaltyLion’s top tips and tactics
Email and loyalty are a match made in heaven. On average, loyalty emails perform 14 times better than other marketing emails. This is because they are tailored to each individual and customers are looking for personalised online experiences that make them feel valued.
To leverage this opportunity, try linking your loyalty program and ESP together. To help, LoyaltyLion and Klaviyo have built a deep integration that you learn more about here.
Here are some top tips for using loyalty and ESP together to help you retain your customers:
1. Communicate your brand values and alignment
60% of millennials gravitate towards brands that are an expression of their personality. Plus, consumers with an emotional connection to a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value.
Make sure to clearly express your brand values through all mediums including your loyalty program, social media channels and marketing emails.
2. Give customers reasons to return
Use emails to turn one-time shoppers into repeat customers by keeping them engaged between purchases with points notifications or reward available reminders. Loyalty emails have a far higher open rate than other marketing emails as they are highly personalised. This shows that you know and value your customers as individuals, and will give them a reason to engage. Take a look at skincare brand, Annmarie, for inspiration:
3. Communicate unique, personalised experiences
57% of people feel that receiving personalised offers is important and will make them more likely to purchase. Use email to communicate offers that aren’t available to your wider customer base – for example, special, time-limited double or triple points promotions.
4. Encourage customers to leave reviews and make referrals
95% of shoppers consult reviews before making a purchase and customers who are referred by friends or family members are four times more likely to buy. Use emails to communicate that you reward customers for leaving reviews and referring friends. This will actively encourage customers to act as advocates on your behalf.
5. Suprise and delight your customers
78% of customers haven’t completed their transaction because of a poor experience. Consider what you can do to make the customers you’re close to losing feel like VIPs. Surprise and delight them with an unexpected email that lets them know that you’re bumping them up a loyalty tier, allowing them to unlock great benefits.
Takeaways
Customer retention is a cost-effective way of increasing conversion and is proven to have a great ROI. This is why it is worth investing some time and money into ways you can drive your retention strategies.
With the help of LoyaltyLion’s top tips and tactics, you’ll be well on your way to successfully marrying your email marketing and loyalty efforts to increase your loyal customer base.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Blend Commerce for having us to the Shopify Midlands Meetup event with some great partners – we can’t wait to attend more in the future.
Until next time, Team LoyaltyLion
About LoyaltyLion
LoyaltyLion is a data-driven loyalty and engagement platform trusted by thousands of e-commerce brands worldwide. Merchants use LoyaltyLion when they want a fully customised loyalty program that is proven to increase customer engagement, retention and spend. Stores using LoyaltyLion typically generate at least $15 for every $1 they spend on the platform.
