“It is a well established fact that 44% of companies have a greater focus on customer acquisition vs. 18% that focus on retention.” – are the words of Khalid Saleh, CEO and co-founder of Invesp CRO.
But it also costs five times more to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one.
A lot of big companies bet on retention and say retaining a customer is much easier than acquiring a new one. Yet every business, especially a growing one, is in constant search of a new client.
There are many reasons why businesses are constantly searching for new clients. For one, a big percentage of existing clients reduce their buying potential in the course of time.
This is a pain point for small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses, such as, probably, yours. To sell bigger, you have to fit the size. And to fit the size, you have to grow.
In this article, we mean to aid your future growth. You’ll know how to create the desired customer experience and automate retention to the point that all the time on your hands that you’ve previously spent on retention, you can use to attract new clients.
Predictive Marketing Is at Your Service
Predictive marketing is the new kid on the block – the one you’ve probably heard about. It’s a fancy term referring to complex algorithms for anticipating the actions of your visitors and guessing what they desire.
One of the most useful predictive marketing tools is smart triggered emails. Why smart? Not only because these emails are automatic and event-triggered but also because they feature dynamic Product Recommendations.
Based on visitor’s previous activity in your store, these emails show the visitor exactly what she wants. Basically, you’re building a rapport with your visitors with the least imaginable effort.
Although Web Push Notifications are becoming ever more popular, emails still remain an effective and reliable tool for retention and remarketing, with 52% of marketing specialists still using them.
10 Essential Trigger Scenarios
There are many types of triggered emails. Each type runs by its own scenario: from “Hey! It’s the Fisherman’s Day if you know what I mean…” to “Free cappuccino for all our customers!” Among many others, here are 10 essential trigger scenarios anyone should have running in the store.
Trigger #1. Abandoned Cart
What it does: it returns to you visitors and customers who left your store before finalizing their order. In addition, it also suggests products that are complimentary to their main purchase.
How it works: within two hours the abandoning visitor gets an email with a reminder of the items left in the shopping cart and a cluster of product recommendations featuring similar and complementary products.
A well-designed Abandoned Cart email generates you 11.6% click-throughs with 29% buy-through rate.
Trigger #2. Abandoned Cart Follow-up Reminder
What it does: it ensures that the message reaches the reader. Sometimes people do not have time to open and read your email. At times they archive it because they’re not in the mood, or simply decide to read it later only to never return to it.
So, if the first email hasn’t generated you any click-throughs, don’t shy off, remind them again.
How it works: within 24 hours the abandoning visitor, who hasn’t clicked on any links in the first email, receives a follow-up reminder. 24 hours is an optimum time span: there is a higher chance this person is still interested in the item and hasn’t yet bought it anywhere else.
Trigger #3. Viewed but Not Bought
What it does: it reminds your visitors about the product they’ve been perusing the most at your website. There are tens of possible reasons why your customer hasn’t added the product to the сart — not interested in the item, was just checking the price or reading the description, was distracted by external events or simply had connection problems.
This trigger solves the problem by catching up with the customer and offering favorable options.
How it works: your customer gets a reminder email “You Recently Viewed” with the dedicated product card and a block of recommendations featuring similar products in case this person needs more choice. The letter also accentuates the scarcity of the item to encourage the purchase.
Trigger #4. Thank You Email
What it does: besides its obvious primary function, this type of emails generate you more buys by recommending complementary and featured products based on the items in the finished order.
How it works: a week after the purchase, your customer receives a letter thanking them for choosing your store. The letter features a cluster of recommendations with complementary products, this being just the right time to incentivize an additional purchase, since your customer may still be in the purchasing mood and already tested the item(s).
REES46 takes it up to a new level presenting right in the letter a feedback form to let you know what your customer thinks about the product and your services. It minimizes the chance of a bad review published on a third-party site and enhances your store with a live trust-network of customer reviews.
Trigger #5. We Miss you Email
What it does: if you already segment your audience, you know there are three main active groups of customers: A, B and C. The C group generates you the least revenue as it’s mostly dormant. This trigger is very useful to target that group and allows you to finally wake it up and induce a purchase.
How it works: Once a month, your dormant customer receives an email featuring personal recommendations with a range of products selected based on her previous behavior in your store. It ensures that recommendations are always tailored to the specific customer – showing only what this person wants to see.
Trigger #6. Abandoned Search
What it does: it completes your search and ensures that the customer finds what she was searching for.
Here’s a common problem with search in 90% of online stores: it’s poorly programmed and doesn’t take into account complex word forms, or simply butchers the search query to finally show a No Results page.
In other words, search in many stores is a black hole where many visitors disappear forever. REES46 offers Personalized Search Results to make your search a happier place. But regardless, you need this trigger to reach out to your customers after they’ve left your site.
How it works: the customer who made an unsuccessful search and hasn’t clicked on any product in the search results receives an email featuring a very helpful cluster of recommendations.
It carries the message “Customers Who Looked for This Item Also Bought…” It suggests products that people with similar search queries looked at or bought. These are exactly what a demotivated customer needs. That’s if they didn’t type in the search something like “lsdjkvw34 gjevlkjb” of course, or they just see random popular products.
Trigger #7. Abandoned Category
What it does: sounding similar to “Abandoned Search”, this trigger offers a different functionality. If the customer spends a lot of time in a certain category without viewing any product detail pages, this trigger catches up with her to suggest some interesting products.
How it works: the customer receives an email featuring recommendations with products popular in the given category enticing this person into finally making a choice.
Trigger #8. Back in Stock
What it does: it notifies the customer about change in product availability status and generates you better AOV, upselling the customer small complimentary products.
How it works: the customer subscribes to availability status updates for certain products and receives a notification email when the item is back in stock. The letter also features recommendations with complementary products.
Trigger #9. Price Drop
What it does: it personalizes customer experience and allows your customer to choose the right moment to purchase. It also indirectly increases AOV.
How it works: the customer subscribes to price updates for certain product(s) and receives a notification email when the price goes down. The letter also features recommendations with a selection of products tailored personally to this customer.
Trigger #10. Regular Purchase
What it does: it promotes certain groups of products and personalizes buying experience for the customer. These are mostly consumables such as printer toner, baby diapers, milk, bread and so on. This trigger is meant to remind your customer about an upcoming purchase.
How it works: integrated into your website, REES46 analyses recent order(s) of the customer and detects items that are bought regularly, along with the time span between the purchases.
Based on this data, it sends the customer a friendly reminder featuring the items and recommendations with similar items. All what’s left is to click the links and place the order.
And so?
To be ready to grow, you first need to automate your work. Much like hiring an accountant to deal with the budget headache, you can hire a professional to deal with your customer retention headache. If you care to claim your trial REES46, you’ll soon see the results. And for sure you can use all the pre-built trigger scenarios right away.