5 Common eCommerce Customer Retention Mistakes to Avoid
The ability to keep your customers engaged, satisfied, and coming back for more is a powerful asset that can drive long-term success. However, many eCommerce businesses share common mistakes that hinder their efforts to retain customers and grow their brand. In this post, I will share five of these common customer retention mistakes and provide insights on what to do to avoid them.
Not delivering an integrated omni-channel experience
An omni-channel experience essentially means that a brand provides access to its products, offers, and support services to customers or leads across all their marketing channels, selling platforms, and devices. These could include their website, live chat, WhatsApp, social media messenger, phone, or email. This approach offers significant benefits, from boosted customer satisfaction to a broader reach. I've seen this strategy work exceptionally well for businesses that have adopted it, as it delivers effective brand messaging across all their channels. These brands can also connect with target shoppers at the right time, thereby increasing the likelihood of conversion and, ultimately, driving revenue.
Not asking for or acting upon customer feedback
Customer feedback, whether positive or negative, holds incredible importance for your brand. Arguably, I would say that negative feedback is even more valuable due to the customer insights it provides. Customers enjoy sharing their experience with your brand, here you can uncover their pain points and challenges. Therefore, ensuring you proactively seek this feedback is of utmost importance. It empowers you to take actionable steps and optimise your customers' brand experience with you.
Another common mistake I often see brands making is the failure to respond to negative feedback. This is often seen in social media comments, customer service inboxes, and phone interactions. According to a recent HubSpot study, 42% of companies do not listen to their customers at all - yikes! This is a big oversight, as customers want to be heard, valued, and appreciated. Neglecting or disregarding feedback is a significant misstep that should be avoided. It serves as a one-way ticket encouraging your customers to explore alternatives and shop with your competitors.
Not understanding your customers, their needs or their shopping habits
Data plays a central role in my approach - it's all about data, data, and more data. The first step to building a successful business involves analysing all the customer data you have at your disposal. For instance, do you know what percentage of customers return to buy X after purchasing Y? The average gap between repurchases? By delving into your customer data, you gain insights into your target audience, their shopping habits, and so much more. These insights empower you and your team to craft better, more effective messaging that encourages customers to revisit your website. Without a grasp of these insights, you're essentially marketing to your customers without a clear strategy and merely hoping for the best.
Not tailoring your content to your audience
This point dovetails neatly with the previous discussion on knowing your customer data. When you lack knowledge of your target audience – who they are, what they purchase, when they make purchases, and why they choose your brand – you find yourself unable to generate impactful content across your marketing channels that effectively drives traffic to your website. In fact, it becomes an impossible challenge!
Not having a customer retention strategy
Finally, among the many small and growing businesses I've worked with, a common issue is the absence of a customer retention strategy. Eager to achieve rapid growth, they tend to allocate their limited budgets to paid media, socials, and influencer marketing in pursuit of acquiring new customers. Unfortunately, they overlook the fact that the most efficient and cost-effective method for scaling their sales lies in customer retention.
By establishing a comprehensive customer retention strategy, you can cultivate a community of loyal customers who consistently choose to shop with you. This approach not only leads to reduced business costs but also increases profitability and revenue growth.
Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes? Need an actionable plan but don’t know where to start? Find out more about my eCommerce consultation and strategy services here that will deliver you and your business results.