Customer Retention in E-commerce: How to Ensure Second Purchase
So, you drove a significant amount of sales after a successful marketing campaign, and the team is happy.
However, it does not end there. The next step in your marketing efforts is to retain those customers, and that is where the second purchase comes in.
The point between the first purchase and the second purchase is where a lot of customers churn, and marketers record the lowest conversion rate.
A second purchase is a big step toward customer retention and a key factor in unlocking business growth. In this blog post, you will learn:
- Why a second purchase is essential
- Strategies to ensure a second purchase
- The place of e-commerce analytics in ensuring a second purchase in your business
Why a second purchase is essential in e-commerce
A savvy e-commerce marketer ensures that first-time customers return for the following reasons.
1. Increase in customer lifetime value and churn reduction
When your customers return for a secomd purchase it leads to an increase in customer lifetime value and reduction in churn. It costs less to get a customer to buy from you than to acquire a new set of customers. Also, the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is anywhere from 5 to 20%.
2. Customer loyalty building
A first purchase is essential. However, a second purchase is a big step to customer loyalty building. From there, you can nurture such customers into champion customers.
3. Increase in revenue
Rather than gaining first-time customers and losing them every time, if a large number of these customers are retained, it will lead to increase in revenue and a growing customer base. However, many businesses do not know how to ensure a second purchase after a successful e-commerce campaign, making them lose a lot of potential revenue and growth. As you read on, you will learn the strategies to ensure a second purchase with your first-time customers and drive growth for your business.
Strategies to drive a second purchase for your e-commerce business
1.First impression matters
In the same way, how your first date went will determine if you are willing to go for a second one; your customer's first experience with you will decide if they will make a second purchase.
Providing a seamless customer experience is crucial in ensuring a second purchase. As much as marketers talk about customer experience in e-commerce today, only 49% of consumers say companies provide an excellent customer experience.
Studies also show that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.
Bottom line? An excellent customer experience is one of the ways your brand can stand out among others and leave a lasting impression on your first time customers.
Here are practical tips to ensure your customers have a great first experience shopping from your store:
a.Make vital information available
This includes your transaction policies, returns, exchanges, and shipping details, among others.
Make a fair share of relevant information available to your customers easily without them having to dial your customer success number. Having enough of such content on your site shows that you care and makes for a seamless transaction.
b.Follow up with a thank you email
A personalized thank you email can go a long way in making your customer feel special and appreciated, and this boosts customer loyalty.
Here is an example of a thank you email by Abercrombie & Fitch
c.Ensuring prompt responses to any issue they may have
An unforeseen issue may arise during your customer's first order. A quick response from your end will go a long way to ensure a great customer experience.
2. Incentives and Loyalty programs
When your first-time customers get their orders delivered to them, a marketing strategy to deploy is incentives and loyalty programs.
It can be a discount on their next purchase or a gift if their next purchase is up to a certain amount.
3. Use the right e-commerce analytics tool
Technology has changed the marketing landscape over the years, and you should leverage it. With the right e-commerce analytics tool, you can get valuable insights that will enable you to increase your second purchase conversion rate.
How to drive Second Purchase with E-commerce analytics: MagicBean Second Purchase App
Analytics provides you insight and guides your marketing strategies for you to get the best results. A high second purchase conversion rate is not left out as well.
Analytics is like a cheat code. With the right e-commerce analytics tool like MagicBean, you can see how to drive second purchases for your first-time customers.
The MagicBean second purchase app lets you know the significance of a second purchase to your business, and the key drivers of a second purchase, and identify the potential customers you can target for your second purchase app campaign.
1.Examine your second-time purchase curve
With the MagicBean second purchase app, you can get valuable insights into your conversion rate to the next purchase. You also get the percentage of your repeat customers and one-time customers.
A rise in sales after your marketing campaign gives a smiley curve as shown below and implies that your repurchase rate is right on track.
Here is how:
2. Identify key drivers to the second purchase
When launching a second purchase campaign for your customers, MagicBean shows you the products, categories, prices, and brands that most likely drive your customers to buy.
Getting this insight also allows you to craft personalized marketing campaign messages to your customers, giving you an edge compared to sending random marketing messages to everyone.
3. Potential number of customers who will convert to second purchase customers
With MagicBean, you get valuable insights into customers who are most likely to convert and buy from you the second time.
You also get to see the products these people will most likely buy. This enables you to carry out specialized marketing campaigns for them with tailor-made offers, thereby increasing their conversion rate.
In addition, you get to see their estimated conversion rate and estimated revenue as shown below.
To Sum it up
A second purchase campaign should be carefully planned. It is vital in increasing your customer lifetime value, reducing churn, and building customer loyalty.
An excellent customer experience is indispensable in e-commerce and having the right analytics tool gives you valuable insights to create a personalized and targeted marketing campaign for a high conversion second purchase.
Finding one that caters to your holistic marketing needs is rare. MagicBean is a suite of e-commerce analytics apps that caters holistically to your e-commerce marketing needs.
Book a demo for the MagicBean second purchase app to get access to key insights for a successful second purchase campaign and customer loyalty building.