One of the most important aspects of running a business is making an excellent first impression on new buyers and turning them into repeat customers. People desire a smooth and pleasant shopping experience and tend to gravitate back if they are satisfied. These customers are considered repeat or loyal customers, and there are many benefits to having them (both in saving time and money).  

 

Benefits of Creating Repeat Customers (Rather than Looking for New Ones)

Acquiring repeat customers has many benefits. In a sense, having repeat buyers offers peace of mind. You know that these customers will keep on coming back as you build more of a rapport with them. It is much easier, and more comforting, to know that you have a solid foundation of repeat buyers as you continuously grow your business. 

Having repeat buyers is also less expensive. Some businesses spend an arm and a leg on marketing, thus causing their customer acquisition cost to skyrocket. A rough estimate of a business’s customer acquisition cost (or CAC) can be calculated by dividing the total number of marketing costs relative to acquisition by the number of total customers acquired. 

Marketing Costs / Customer Acquired = Customer Acquisition Cost

The lower the CAC, the better. You can save your business some money by keeping new customers happy and engaged early on so you can retain them. 

 

Ways to Build Loyal Customers

What business owner wouldn’t want to create a shopping experience that turns a first-time buyer into a loyal, repeat customer?  Effective marketing can help you work toward this. Marketing is vital for any business and allows you to get your business’s name out into the world so buyers are aware of you. This is especially true for online businesses. Thankfully, with the technology available at our fingertips, there are many marketing options to choose from. 

 

Social Media Advertising 

Perhaps the biggest marketing tool to use is social media, namely Facebook and Instagram. These tech giants host billions of users and are an excellent way to reach your targeted audience. 

Social media accounts themselves are free to use, but you can pay to give your profile a promoted boost. These built-in advertising features make taking advantage of their large user base quite easy. 

And as for repeat buyers, they appreciate staying connected through social media. It gives the brand a relatable personality while also serving as an all-in-one place for announcements of new products, promos, sales, and more. 

 

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing involves sending B2C alerts from your company via text message. This is a great way to promote any kind of sale that is happening or send out other time-sensitive material. Just take a peek around — people are glued to their phones. SMS marketing can be a very cost-effective way to get people shopping. 

 

Email Campaigns 

Many people check their email inbox as often as they check their text messages. Email campaigns can provide more detail than SMS messages and are another great form of marketing. It offers more information to buyers and it never hurts to add fun fonts or graphics to catch their eye and make the experience that much more enjoyable.

Plus, unlike social media, you own your email list. We’ve all experienced our favorite social media servers being “down,” which shows that social media marketing isn’t reliable on its own! Be sure to continue building your email list as a way to share information with customers, promote sales, and even send out those clever abandoned cart emails. “Hey, you forgot this!“

 

Loyalty Programs

You don’t need to be a large corporation to offer a loyalty or rewards program to your customers. These are usually free to customers to sign up, and the programs offer perks like birthday discounts and other promotions like BOGO sales. Loyalty programs give customers a reason to keep coming back to shop, and it shows that you appreciate them as a customer.

 

Referral Programs

Referral programs are essentially the embodiment of word-of-mouth marketing. Some businesses offer small incentives to customers when they refer somebody new. These can include gift cards, store cash, discounts, or even free items! If you follow any influencers, you’ve probably seen this in action. 

Satisfied customers talk to their friends and family (or followers) about how much they enjoyed their experience shopping on your website and urge them to go check it out. People trust other people, making this a very effective way to bring customers to your shop. If you wow them from their first visit to your store, they’re that much closer to becoming a loyal shopper!

 

Discounts

Who doesn’t love a great deal? Offering discounts is a great way to bring repeat customers to your shop to make some sales and clear out inventory. By sending discount alerts to your previous buyers, you’re reminding them about your brand. These shoppers are more likely to come shop your sale rather than new customers because they’ve already purchased from you previously. Use social media, email campaigns, and SMS marketing to your advantage to promote these discounts! 

 

Create a Memorable Experience

Creating a friendly and personalized shopping experience is perhaps the most important way to turn customers into repeat buyers. Be friendly, attentive, and offer suggestions. Superb customer service goes a long way! 

 

Utilize Effective UX Website Design

For e-commerce brands, an eye-catching and user-friendly website can make all the difference in creating repeat buyers. Nobody wants to spend extra time searching for a product, making organization and usability key. There should be clear drop-down lists with categorized products. You could also have filters that sort products by size, color, availability, etc. The products for sale on your website should be organized and the checkout experience should be as fast and efficient as possible.

Display recommended products on individual product pages to promote up-sales. This will keep the customer engaged and make them want to browse a bit more. Maybe they’ll even add some of the items to their cart or save them for later! 

A transparent shipping timeline is always appreciated and offers a clear visual of when the order has been placed, processed, and shipped. If any delays are expected, consider emailing the customer to let them know. Communication is always great. 

 

Complete the Experience with Beautiful Packaging

Place extra effort into creating beautiful packaging to make the entire shopping experience a great one. From the first visit to your website to receiving the product in the mail, make your customers’ experience something to remember. Consider adding a thank you note in there as well! 

Loyal customers are tough to come by, so go the extra mile to hang onto them. Buyers remember friendly customer service and smooth shopping experiences. Offering these things helps to make customers feel special and will keep them coming back as repeat buyers! 

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Ready to scale your online store? There are two ways to work with Sarah…

1. The E-Commerce Women In Business Mastermind –  your exclusive e-commerce coaching and e-commerce digital marketing mentorship for women looking to Grow and Scale your online store.  Click here to learn more
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Yours in success,

Sarah x