5 (easy) Ways Shopper Retention Can Boost Your Profitability 💸

Your current customers are your golden geese. They keep the cashier ringing in your Shopify store while you go out and attract new business.

This is why you want to turn as many first-timer visitors into long-term buyers as possible to fuel your growth.

In fact, Harvard Business Review found that it’s up to 25X more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep one.

Plus… Repeat customers spend more over time.

So keeping your customers happy, both saves money AND brings in more, especially when they become brand-evangelists and spread the word about your fantastic store!

In today’s Deep Dive we show you 5 ways to turn first-time purchasers into lifelong lovers of your brand.

Let’s dive in… ⬇️

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Let's talk customer retention, shall we? 🚀 

Now that you got a glimpse of the benefits, it’s time to give you some practical strategies to boost your Shopify customer lifetime value…

*Save these in case you’ll want to revisit, or share with your team

Strategy 1: Deliver a 5-Star Customer Service Experience

Your customers want to feel valued and appreciated.

Or as Maya Angelou famously said, “People won't remember what you said but they'll remember how you made them feel.” 

That's why it's so important to deliver a five-star customer service experience, from the moment they come across your products or page, to the moment they receive their order.

A great example of a company that is known for its legendary customer service, is Zappos. They've been known to send surprise upgrades to overnight shipping and offer free returns, even on worn shoes.

So how can you ensure a stellar post-purchase experience to make the difference between a one-time sale and a regular customer?

Here are a few tips:

1. Be responsive to inquiries and complaints: 
   Leverage Shopify Chat for real-time support and create an FAQ page for common questions, freeing your team for more complex inquiries.
   

2. Go the extra mile to help your customers:
   Offer a small freebie for larger purchases to make an impression. For substantial orders or returning customers, a handwritten or digital thank-you note adds a personal touch.
   

3. Personalize your interactions:
   Use customer segmentation to send targeted emails and offers to different groups of customers based on their interests. And address your customers by name in your communications.
   

4. Offer easy returns and refunds: Clearly display your return policy on product and checkout pages. A Shopify app like Returnly can streamline the returns process.
   

If you’d like to consider a tool to integrate for live, chat, email support and the likes, Gorgias is a tool we found helpful for eCommerce brands customer service helpdesk features.

Strategy 2: Create a Loyalty Program That Customers Love

Loyalty programs are a great way to reward your customers for their business and encourage them to come back for more.

Points are great. But... what about something that feels, you know, special?

To create a loyalty program that customers actually love, consider offering rewards that are valuable to them and that grow in value over time. This could be anything from discounts and free shipping to exclusive products and early access to sales...

Here are a few tips:

1. Make it fun: 
   Think about what your customers would find most appealing and tailor your rewards program accordingly.
   
   

2. Make it easy: 
   Your loyalty program should be easy to understand and navigate. And customers should be able to redeem their rewards quickly and easily.
   
   

3. Promote it:
   Let your customers know about your loyalty program and the benefits of joining. You can do this through your website, email marketing, and social media.

An example of a loyalty program that customers love is Sephora's Beauty Insider Members earn points for every purchase, which can be redeemed for discounts, free products, and other rewards.

It’s also worth searching, as there are a number of tools available to help you automate your loyalty program and make it easy for your customers to earn and redeem rewards. One popular option is Smile.io.

Strategy 3: Hyper-Personalize the Shopping Experience

Customers appreciate it when you make an effort to understand their needs and preferences. That's why it's important to personalize the shopping experience as much as possible.

One way to do this is to use product recommendations.

Shopify offers a number of tools that can help you recommend products to your customers based on their previous purchases and browsing history. ShopifyLearn has a few tutorials.

Another way to personalize the shopping experience… is to use customer segmentation.

This allows you to send targeted emails and offers to different groups of customers based on their interests.

Shopify's customer tagging feature is a great way to segment your audience. You can create tags based on factors such as purchase history, browsing behavior, and location.

Here are a few tips:

1. Personalized product recommendations:
   This feature utilizes machine learning to automatically determine which products a customer is most likely to buy.
   

2. Customer Segmentation:
   Send targeted emails and offers to different groups of customers based on their interests. This can help increase the relevance of your communications and boost sales.
   

3. Personalize your website content:
   Such as product descriptions or homepage banners, based on customer data. Create a more engaging and relevant shopping experience for your customers.
   

You might recognize Amazon's "Customers who bought this item also bought..." feature. It’s a classic example of product personalization. It's simple, yet effective.

Strategy 4: Streamline the Checkout Process

A complicated or time-consuming checkout process can lead to cart abandonment.

So you want to make it easy for your customers to complete their purchase, by streamlining the checkout process as much as possible…

Here are a few tips:

1. Offer multiple payment options:
   Give your customers the flexibility to pay for their purchase using the method of their choice.
   
   

2. Use one-click checkout for returning customers:
   Reduce cart abandonment by making it easy for returning customers to complete their purchase.
   
   

3. Eliminate unnecessary form fields:
   The fewer form fields your customers have to fill out, the more likely they are to complete their purchase.
   
   

4. Make it easy for customers to edit their carts:
   Allow customers to easily add or remove items from their carts without having to go back to the product page.

ASOS.com* is an example of a store that reduced their cart abandonment rate by 10% after simplifying their checkout process. They eliminated unnecessary form fields and made it quick and easy for customers to complete their purchase.

As a Shopify store owner, your best tool is Shopify's one-click checkout feature allows customers to complete their purchase with a single click. You can read more about it here.

Strategy 5: Listen to Customer Feedback and Act On It

Customer feedback is essential for improving your product and customer experience.

One thing you can do is ensure to collect feedback from your customers and use it to make continuous improvements.

1. Collect feedback from Customers or Visitors:
   Through surveys, email reviews, and social media.
   
   

2. Act on the feedback you collect:
   The gold lies in tracking frequent requests from your audience, and implementing those as ways to grow your store and customer satisfaction.

A tool many find helpful for collecting and managing feedback is Feedback.io

An example of Feedback Collection is actually right here! At the end of this newsletter 🙂… This is a great time to ask you to:

In Summary… 💭 

Customer retention is one of the keys to growing your Shopify store.

By following the five strategies outlined in this today’s deep dive, we believe you can create a post-purchase experience that will keep your customers coming back for more…

Turning first-time shoppers into repeat customers and boosting your Shopify store profits!

We hope these strategies support you and your team in long-term success! 💰️ 

Written and Edited by: Yahli Rashi (The Early Checkout Team)

The Early Checkout Team

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