eCommerce retailers need to focus on human experiences, not just metrics
There’s no question that customer retention is key to a successful business. In fact, according to research from Bain & Company, increasing customer retention (CR) rates by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%. So how can you improve your customer retention rate using customer experience technology (CX tech) the right way? Technically there is more than one right way. Check out these tips to make sure your team heads toward true benefits from the technology you use.
Today, customer experience has become integral to how businesses operate. A CX Tech ecosystem includes all technologies needed for integrating and automating your interactions with customers across every stage throughout their end-to-end journey so that they can have amazing experiences at scale!
1. Deliver a Top-Tier Product or Service
You know the motto in business, all promises must be kept and products delivered accurately, or buyers will not return. This is true no matter what you are selling; software, tennis shoes (or any other product), pet supplies – even if it’s a consulting service like marketing programs.
For customer experience technology (CX Tech) to work, there must be something for the customer to come back to. Your business has already delivered some drawn by some memorable experiences or met a personal need. People are drawn to a sense of quality, so going for top-tiered categories makes sense.
2. Use data to create personalized experiences
Data allows organizations to validate solutions before they’re attempted, so the best way for brands’ experience design to be solid and ensure your data supports what you do on paper. If this sounds like something that would work well with your or someone else’s business, try implementing it!
To make the best experiences, you need data. Use technology to turn listening posts in every channel into human-centered engagements and have good information at your fingertips when it comes to taking an action or decision. There will be no limit as long as creativity lasts!
As most marketers preach, data can help you segment your customers and target them with relevant messages and offers. It can also help you create a more personalized experience on your website and in your communications.
3. Automate your customer communication
Another way to improve customer retention (CR) is to automate your customer communication. This can be done using several different tools, including email marketing platforms, live chat software, and even social media automation tools. Even using many tools, software like customer data platforms (CDP) can inform and orchestrate your communication.
Improving customer retention is all about staying in touch with your customers. You can do this by using tools like email marketing platforms, live chat software, or social media automation services to ensure timely and relevant communication, which helps retain more clients!
Orchestrate your communications on the channels your customers take in information. Most brands will be more than one, like Tik Tok and Instagram. Then you need to add a customer data platform, like VIEWN, to help orchestrate by channel, product, category, and the nine common customer segments.
4. Use customer feedback to improve your products and services
If you want to keep your customers happy and sticking around, ensure that every day or week, there is a chance for them to provide feedback or interact with you in some way. With CX tech, we can read and score these feedback loops to ensure they are where they should be. Another added benefit of measuring feedback loops is that it allows the marketers and business owners/CEOs of these companies access to information needed to maintain customer satisfaction long-term! Actions like this will inform you of customer needs and even aspirations.
You will get feedback when you insert digital surveys into your automated customer engagement program. Business owners ask me how I know why people shop with us from the data. I ask them and insert the answer into a database of analysis. The answer often is a surprise. But there are more tips like don’t ask too much at once. Utilize stars and other low-effort scoring widgets so there is no extra work on the customer’s side. This approach won’t cost you a great customer experience; instead, you will lose out on the commercial value of intelligence. For some brands, I mean a triple-digit hit to your top line.
5. Offer incentives for loyalty
I have found that rewarding my customers for their loyalty works wonders with marketing. You can easily reach on-site visitors and email subscribers by offering these discounts to those who return or subscribe; like the example above, we offer 15% off if you sign up within a certain time frame! Another tip I learned is that when you are explicit about the discount, then customers convert better.
A great way of engaging this audience is through personalized messages which get 6x more interactions than generic ones – so make sure yours are always tailored just right.
You’ll want to use customers’ order history and preferences to determine where they fall in your audience segments. For example, a footwear company would likely divide its customers based on the type of shoes each person buys.
It wouldn’t make sense to send offers for tennis shoes to someone who has only purchased sandals. Similarly, they wouldn’t send an offer for dress shoes to someone who only buys tennis shoes.
Email marketing, in particular, lets you keep track of your customers by splitting them up into different segments. For example, suppose a company has several types of shoes in their store. In that case, they will want to target people with specific preferences who buy those styles most often. Don’t waste time or money sending offers that might be unwanted; this way, only relevant messages are sent out based on what’s convenient for consumers.
CX for customer retention
CX Technology (CX Tech) is an art and science program marketers leverage to improve customer retention rates. Businesses of all sizes benefit from improved conversion rates (CR). The tips mentioned above helped us keep our users coming back long after their first purchase by being patient and persistent with them while also getting to know exactly what they need for the right engagement rate (ER).
The customer needs to always be at the center of a business. The best organizations understand that in every interaction, they provide value and build relationships with their customers to help them achieve meaningful goals through human connection, creating long-lasting success for both parties involved.
By following these tips, you can start using CX tech to improve your customer retention rate the right way. Remember, it’s not just about the technology you use but also how you use it. So make sure you’re focused on creating lasting relationships with your customers.
What other tips do you have for improving customer retention? Please share them in the comments below. It would be great to build a community around ethical customer engagement.
