You spend a lot of time acquiring new customers. Once you've got them, what about making sure they stick around? Today, we have a guest blog post from Alexa Lemzy of TextMagic, letting us know her list of top tools for eCommerce customer retention. 

A staggering 40% of the world’s population has shopped online and eCommerce accounts for $349.06 billion of purchases in the United States and $93.89 billion in the United Kingdom. And a full 9 million Americans have purchased something on a mobile device at least once.

All companies want to be able to retain their customers. Selling to a new customer costs more in advertising and promotions than selling to an existing customer. The higher a company’s customer retention rate, the higher their ROI for marketing campaigns.

So, how can you make sure that your eCommerce customers are satisfied? Here are some top tips and tools. 

Mobile optimized sites

Mobile device conversion rates for eCommerce businesses are increasing every quarter in 2015, and mobile commerce made up 30% of all eCommerce in the US. That means if your site isn’t mobile-ready, you’ll likely start losing business to your competitors whose sites are prepared to cater to mobile shoppers.

Use tools like Google’s Mobile Friendly Test and W3C mobileOK Checker to get a free analysis of your site’s mobile readiness.

Some important tips to convert your website for mobile use:

  • Use fewer photos to improve loading time.
  • Make it easy for customers to know where to tap in order to find more information, make purchases, etc.
  • Make your mobile sign-up forms shorter and simpler than desktop.

mobile eCommerce

Photo Credit Gavin Whitner: musicoomph.com

SMS

Texting is a very popular form of communication with consumers. It’s more convenient than phone calls that can come at a bad time and voice mails are rarely listened to. Emails don’t have the same immediacy as texts and if your message doesn’t end up in the spam box, it’s still unlikely a customer will open it.

Capitalize on SMS in the following ways:

  • Customer service. You can send texts to handle customer service issues. Texting is low cost and efficient and also allows customers to reach you at their convenience. TextMagic is a powerful SMS service with the feature of two-way texting to anywhere in the world. Receive texts from your clients at no extra cost to you.
  • Exclusive deals. Get customers to sign up for your SMS loyalty program by offering exclusive deals and promotions via SMS that aren’t available through your other advertising media. Knowing that they’ll be receiving a special offer gives them more incentive to open and respond to your texts. Mozeo is another text messaging service that sells message “packs”. Buying a larger pack of messages means reducing your rate/message.
  • Notifications about product delivery. SMS is the ideal platform for communicating about urgent issues such as delivery alerts and delays. Keep customers up to date about the arrival of their purchase with a text

Social media

Social media is an easy and accessible way to provide customer service as well as share images and videos about new products. Customers can also read comments left by other customers on social media, making it a natural place for people to look for product reviews.

Here are some top ways to use social media for customer relations:

  • Research effective keywords. Make sure you know what keywords customers are using to find out about products and services you’re selling, and use them in your posts. Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to help you with keyword ideas.
  • Share not sell. In Facebook and other social media posts, focus more on content than on selling. Tips and advice, information and stories can all help customers get a sense of the quality of your product/service. Help them share. Make sure your social sharing buttons are prominently placed and easy triggers for followers to click.
  • Use good visuals. Social media is more and more image-based and some sites like Pinterest and Instagram are almost exclusively about images. Make sure you post high-quality images that inspire followers to want your product/service. Canva is a great photo design tool to create social media images. It even has an Instagram template to make sure you create the perfect Instagram photo every time.

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Reliable courier services

This is perhaps the singlemost important service you can offer to your eCommerce customers. Choose an efficient, cost-effective and reliable courier service to reduce complaints, returns and damaged products.

Here are some important delivery factors:

  • Offer expedited delivery services. Sometimes people need something right away. If you don’t offer fast or overnight delivery, you may lose clients to a business that does.
  • Make sure the packaging is well-done. Receiving a nicely packaged product can make a huge difference in how your company is perceived. Here are some examples.
  • Overestimate delivery dates. Advertise delivery times that are slightly longer than they normally take. That way, you can guarantee a faster-than-expected delivery.

Use these tools to deliver high-quality customer service, product information, delivery services and purchase experiences to your customers for improved customer satisfaction and retention rates. 

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Alexa Lemzy is the customer support person and blog editor at TextMagic. She is interested in the newest mobile tools, customer service best practices and business growth hacks. If you want to ask her a question or show something exciting, just reach out to @Alexa_Lemzy.

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See Also: 

10 ways to fight shopping cart abandonement on your eCommerce site

8 common marketing mistakes people make with their eCommerce store

Top 5 eCommerce fears and how to ease online shopping anxieties

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