Generating one-off sales is great, but it’s exhausting if that’s your only strategy. It takes far more energy and money to generate new customers than it does to cultivate repeat customers.
While you always want to be generating new customers, it’s equally important to have a process that turns those people into repeat customers. If you’re struggling with this, here are some tips that can help.
1. Embrace retargeting
There are several key PPC strategies for ecommerce and retargeting is one of the most important to use. Retargeting is when you show your ads only to people who have interacted with your brand in some way before. This includes interacting with your brand on the platform, visiting your website, and clicking your ads.
On some platforms, you can show ads to users who have visited your website, even if they’ve never clicked on your ads. On other platforms, you can only retarget users who have previously clicked on your ads. Either way, retargeting is one of the most powerful ways to utilize ads.
Retargeting moves leads through your sales funnel
Retargeting, a subset of remarketing, is an advanced marketing strategy that helps you move leads through your sales funnel, turning curious people into customers.
When you show your ads to people who have previously interacted with your brand, you’re going to feel familiar to them. This makes it easier to target people who are ready to buy the product or service you sell.
Retargeting utilizes the power of repetition to move people along. When you continue showing your ads to people who have already interacted with your brand, many of them will click again, which makes it easier to generate impulse buys and purchases from leads who have thought about making a purchase.
Learn the basics of retargeting
To get into retargeting, check out Neil Patel’s guide to remarketing and retargeting. It’s a thorough guide that explains the difference between remarketing and retargeting, and will help you get a clear picture of how it all works.
2. Collect email addresses
If you haven’t started an email list, this is a must. If you’re just starting your business, don’t wait to start collecting email addresses. Begin building your email list as soon as possible, preferably today.
Having an email list gives you an easy opportunity to market to people who are interested in your brand. It allows you to contact people with special offers that can generate quick sales, and it helps to build your brand image in people’s minds.
You can start by using a free email marketing program like MailChimp if you don’t have the budget for something more advanced. When you grow beyond the capabilities of your free program, you can export your contacts to a file and import them into your new email marketing program.
3. Send emails frequently
There’s a divide in the marketing world. Some people think emails should be sent sparingly, while others insist that frequent emails get results. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
While most people don’t want to feel like they’re getting spammed, frequent emails aren’t always considered spam. In fact, most people want to get emails at least once a week.
What makes the difference between wanted and unwanted frequent emails? It’s all about the content of your emails and how much people love your brand. If you don’t establish a deep connection with your customers, they’re not going to enjoy getting your emails.
The key to being able to send frequent emails is connecting deeply with your customers. Easier said than done, but it’s worth consulting with a marketing professional to get it right.
4. Continually improve your customer service
Customer service is everything. If you have poor customer service, people won’t feel right doing business with you again. You’ll also have a hard time attracting new customers.
To generate repeat customers, give people more than just a good product or service – give them excellent customer service, too. Go above and beyond to make your customers happy. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Allow them to keep a product they want to return so they don’t have to go through the trouble. Replace items a few days past the return window.
Make your customers feel special and they’ll not only buy from you again, but they’ll also tell their friends about their experience. Word of mouth is by far the best form of advertising around, and you can get it by having great customer service.
Put your customers first
The ability to generate repeat customers is strongly anchored in the way you interact with your customers. When you put your customers first, that’s when you’ll start to see big results from your marketing efforts.
