Ab Gaur is founder and CEO of Verticurle and in addition serves as Ogilvy’s Chief Data and Technology Officer.
Today’s shoppers don’t have any shortage of buying options. They are not any longer tied to their location, but have access to limitless opportunities on a worldwide scale through their mobile devices.
Mastercard’s 2024 Retail Trends Report 2024 is asserted the “Year of the Empowered Consumer.” The report claims that “retail trends in 2024 reflect a greater shift toward a customer-centric and digitally-driven retail landscape.” In response, brands are refining their customer journeys to deliver seamless and connected experiences that engage prospects, acquire shoppers, and importantly, retain customers.
This is simpler said than done. To achieve success, brands must leverage their extensive data sets to create dynamic omnichannel marketing campaigns that effectively mix offline and online customer relationship management (CRM) data to focus on and personally engage customers at their chosen points of purchase.
In short, brands must work twice as hard to achieve their customers exactly where they’re and provides them the correct message at the correct time. If done effectively, brands can win the coveted prize: repeat customers who increase sales, brand response and customer loyalty.
The value of the regular customer
Repeat customers are the gold standard of customer relationships for good reason. A sufficiently large repeat customer base can increase sales, reduce marketing costs, increase conversion rates, and supply a modicum of stability in competitive markets.
The marketing math is evident: regular customers are cheaper to retain and generate more revenue than latest customers. For example: an evaluation found that acquiring latest customers is as much as 10 times dearer than retaining existing customers. At the identical time, repeat customers spend 67% greater than latest customers.
In other words, repeat customers are a win-win situation from a value perspective, which is why it’s price investing in strategies that increase the likelihood of buyers staying. Brands that gain customer trust Achieve high conversion ratesbecause 71% of repeat customers say they make more purchases and 61% recommend brands to their friends.
It’s a truism within the business world that loyal repeat customers are good for the corporate. However, it’s difficult to achieve customer trust and convert one-time buyers into loyal customers when consumers have so many purchasing options available.
How to enhance the funnel for repeat customer purchases
To achieve this, brands must develop the correct omnichannel consumer funnel that guides shoppers through the stages of awareness, consideration and conversion.
Here are three steps brands can take to enhance and gain more repeat customers.
1. Increase customer engagement.
Nearly Three quarters of consumers say They expect personalized interactions from retailers and 76% say they’re “frustrated when this doesn’t happen.”
To gain repeat customers, brands can increase customer loyalty through personalized communications. This creates strong connections and improves the shopper experience – two aspects that increase buyer trust and create repeat customers.
2. Develop data-driven automation solutions.
Personalization at scale can’t be a manual task. Fortunately, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) enable the automation of personalization across multiple environments.
According to Ernst & Young Consumer Goods and Retail Executive Pulse Survey41% of outlets use AI to personalize the shopper experience through virtual assistance and 32% through product purchase reminders.
3. Meet people where they’re.
Long gone are the times of counting on a single platform to advertise products and have interaction with customers. Today, brands must engage with customers across multiple channels, including web sites, mobile apps, social media, email, physical stores, and other touchpoints.
While platforms are undoubtedly different, the messaging must be consistent across all touchpoints to enhance the general customer experience and deliver results. In other words, customers should experience a seamless transition between channels. For example, if a customer is browsing for products on an internet site, adding items to their cart, after which receives an abandoned cart email, the messaging should remain consistent throughout.
To gain trust and construct relationships that result in repeat business, it’s crucial to satisfy people where they’re and provides them the message they need at the correct time.
Use data to draw repeat customers
To gain repeat customers, a brand must increase customer loyalty, automate data-driven journeys to enhance personalization, and supply omnichannel communications for seamless customer interactions, whatever the platform.
Sounds easy, right? And it will probably be. It’s a priority that any brand can pursue to stay as competitive as possible in an increasingly crowded global marketplace.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for top CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Am I qualified?
