I know why you are here.
You – the WooCommerce store owner, my friend- understand the true value of retaining your customers.
And that’s a great start. I commend you for that.
We all know, retaining customers as opposed to acquiring new ones is comparatively less expensive. In fact, you have higher chances of upselling your products and services to existing customers than to new ones.
So, if you’re serious about increasing sales in your WooCommerce store, you need to focus on improving customer loyalty.
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#1 Dos: Email Marketing
Email is not dead.
If you’re thinking email is old school- it’s not. Studies have shown 77% of customers prefer communication via email communication as compared to social media like Facebook.
Think about it. Your twitter feed is updated every second. News you share via Twitter is bound to get submerged in the ocean of tweets. With an email, the lifespan of the information you send is longer.
Individuals give email personal attention. I do. Don’t you?!
If you frame the email right, add the I-have-to-check-this-out subject – you’ve got your customers where you want them. And I’m not talking about those pesky emails which try to sell you something every time.
No. These are emails that communicate a message of value to your customers or their business. Something that shows your customers you care.
For example,
- Business-related tips and how your software can help
- Teach them how to use your software better
- Explain the benefits of joining your loyalty program
- Personalized emails with special offers based on purchase history
- A reminder that they can always mail you for support in case they need anything
Did you know people who buy via an offer sent in an email spend 138% more than average shoppers? (Something to think about isn’t it.)
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Tools You Need
Of course ‘the content’ is something you need to think about.
But when it comes to designing and scheduling the emails, there are several email marketing services you can employ to simplify your tasks.
The one I’d recommend is MailChimp. That’s the one I’d use. It’s pretty simple to work with and provides a ‘free’ starter plan for 2,000 subscribers or less.
If you’re on a budget: The only WordPress plugin you’ll need is MailPoet, period. News is the latest version of MailPoet will include a sending service so you don’t need to rely on WordPress’ mailing functions.
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#2 Don’ts: Poor Customer Experience
Customer experience is key to retaining your existing customers. A customer’s experience begins from right when he/she lands on the site, and throughout till he/she makes the purchase.
It’s not just about the user experience on your WooCommerce store. Every communication you trigger adds to this experience.
For example, customers love receiving anniversary wishes or offers. And it’s not just:
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“Hey there,
Happy Anniversary!! Here’s a 15% Discount Coupon!”
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It’s personalized emails which say:
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“Hey, Jessica,
Happy Anniversary!! We know you love our shopping bags, so here’s a 15% Discount Coupon on our new collection. And just in case you were interested, you could use the coupon for other products in our store too!!”
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Lack of communication from your end will certainly affect a customer’s experience in a negative way; and the chance of that customer returning to your store will be reduced.
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#3 Dos: Loyalty Marketing
This one’s a no-brainer.
“Loyalty marketing is an approach to marketing, based on strategic management, in which a company focuses on growing and retaining existing customers through incentives.”
– Loyalty Marketing, Wikipedia
“Incentives”- that’s the keyword here.
The thing is, incentives are not the only factor that influence customer loyalty. Your brand plays an important role in creating an emotional appeal.
But unless you’re an ‘Apple’ (and if you are, I don’t know why you’re reading this), you need incentives to rope in loyal customers.
Incentives are commonly offered as loyalty programs. The first step here, of course, is to allow customers to register on your WooCommerce site. And since WooCommerce inherently allows user accounts to be created, the process is fairly simple.
You can then employ any of the following methods:
- Offer discount prices to registered customers
- Create tiered membership levels offering progressive benefits
- Send sales/discount offer newsletters to members only
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Reward Customers for their Loyalty
Here’s a quick cost-effective tip on how to create a tiered pricing model for members of your WooCommerce store. The plugin you need is – Customer Specific Pricing plugin.
The plugin offers role-based/ group/ customer-based pricing for products in your WooCommerce store.
When a customer registers on your WooCommerce site, he/she is added as a ‘Customer’. By using the Customer Specific Pricing plugin, you can set discounted prices for the user role ‘Customer’. Similarly, you can create several roles, such as ‘Premium Customer’, ‘Elite Customer’, and set different prices for them, thus creating a multi-tier customer loyalty program. Booyah! 😀
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#4 Dos: Closing the Feedback Loop
Here’s where most of us slip up. We tend to focus on customers only during the service period. Quite often ignoring customer feedback.
Customer feedback is vital to any company’s success. Even the negative reviews are just as important as the positive ones. They help you evaluate how well your company’s services are perceived by customers and areas where you can improve.
There is something your customer might have to say, which might impact their repeat business. And yes! You can’t reply based on your gut feeling here. It’s best to have actual numbers.
Implementing positive measures based on feedback tells your customer, you value their opinion, and this is bound to improve their experience.
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How to Gather Feedback
WooCommerce provides a ‘Review‘ option for products in your store. If you sell services, you can take things a step ahead and get on a feedback call with your customers directly.
Surveys are a great means of gathering feedback. You can use a simple tool like Google Forms or a service such as SurveyMonkey for the same.
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#5 Don’ts: Ignoring Quality Support
“A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related rather than product or price-related”
Don’t get complacent.
I’m guilty of replying to a “pre-sale” email before a “support” email. A chance for a new sale right? But the delay in servicing support requests or the utter lack of it might eat into your repeat customer base.
Increasing your product support team, based on your needs, might solve your immediate problems. But improving product-related documentation, adding an intelligent helpdesk software might help in the long run.
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Our Story
At WisdmLabs, nearly 30% of our business is from repeat clients. And we’re planning on increasing the number to 40% this year, by improving internal processes.
“On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.”
Mind you, we didn’t achieve this number overnight. We worked continually on our approach, learned from past mistakes, paid heed to client feedback, improved our training processes to reach this figure.
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I’d Like to Hear Yours
Do you actively do loyalty marketing? Are you planning on trying it out? I’d like to know if the tips I provided helped. Or, even better, if you had any suggestions that could help other readers. Let me know your thoughts, in the comment section below.
