Customer Retention: How To Bring Back Ecommerce Christmas Shoppers

6 Minute Read

With that time of the year quickly approaching, I imagine your brand is doing everything in its power to weather the snowstorm of customers that the Christmas season brings.

In an attempt to avoid the ruckus of the high street, more people than ever are turning to ecommerce sites. In fact, online holiday sales from 2018 crossed over the trillion mark, a 5.8% increase from the previous year.

But for some ecommerce sites, this causes an issue.

Of course this surge in sales is something to look forward to. But an issue lies in the ability to retain this influx of customers all year round.

This post will outline some key tips as to how your brand can further capitalise on the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. You want to use this season to expand your prospect in the new year, build up some year-round brand loyalty and customer relationships. Remember… customers are for life, not just for Christmas (hopefully).

Get the bauble rolling early with mailing list loyalty

We know that the run up to Christmas is a time for preparation and planning. So why not use this extra groundwork as an advanced opportunity for the new year? Building up a solid mailing list is one of the most important and measurable ways to test if your Christmas campaign is gaining traction. But it also allows you to continue a rapport with your visitors after the holiday season has died down. You can directly inform your customers about new products, abandoned cart and promotional offers etc.

Developing a dialogue with your customers in the new year is important. Do this by giving people a reason to sign up. One way that you can encourage sign-ups is through Call-To-Action pop-ups (CTA). These are the boxes that you usually click off. But if done properly a CTA pop-up can target individuals based on their specific customer demographic. Get your Christmas customers on board for further promotions in the new year.

It is easy to become desensitised to pop-ups as ecommerce continues to grow. We think that it is best to avoid cliché traditions and be more human. Don’t be afraid to play around with the language and design of your CTA’s. Rather than ‘sign up’, why not try ‘gain access’ or ‘allow me entry’. Use personalisation to speak directly to your customers to show that you respect their time and preferences.

You can also provide incentives for customers to join your mailing list. Proving to your customers that you value and appreciate their loyalty makes it far more likely that they will invest in your brand in the future. Some mailing list sign-up incentives you could try:

• Free shipping or personalised discount codes for first-time sign-ups.
• Create an email series: Videos, Lookbooks, Newsletter etc.
• Run competitions for early sign-ups.
• Provide rewards for sharing with friends.

Although small and simple, the methods above can prove the difference between a ‘click-off’ and a future loyal customer.

Social media conversion: Presence is a present

It is no secret that social media is a gem for spreading brand awareness, cataloguing your product range and driving website traffic. If you find the sweet spot between promotion and engagement you can use social media as a year-round tool to promote to your new-found Christmas shoppers.

A great way to do this is through crowdsourcing your content with user-generated posts. Posting images of your loyal customers using your products is the perfect way to portray an authentic brand image. It shows that you hold a level of value and interest for your buyers. For example, BMW promote the hashtag #BMWrepost. This encourages customers to post creative pictures of their cars, with the hope it will land on the BMW Instagram account. This particular hashtag boats just shy of 1 million contributions, providing a far greater reach than their immediate audience. By doing this, BMW are able to create continuity through their social presence. People invest in personality, so carry yours throughout your brand.

If you’re a smaller business or simply want another way to promote your brand on social channels, try out Influencer Marketing. By partnering up with the right individuals, on-brand influencers can hold the ticket to the target market you have been searching for. You could start by running a competition promoted through your Influencers’ social media pages. Doing this through ‘stories’ on Facebook and Instagram can create far more urgency than regular posts. Set the entry requirements as ‘our next 5000 followers will be entered into a raffle’. See how much more reach you can gain in a short amount of time.

The point here is that the power behind an Influencer comes from the respect and loyalty of their following. It is important to maintain these relationships throughout the new year to expand your reach and add value.

Personalisation: The gift that keeps giving

Let’s get personal… Ecommerce personalisation is proven to increase engagement and boost sales. Why not tailor your website, content and messaging to speak out to your visitors by making them feel directly targeted and valued?

Personalisations tools, such as Bunting give you the edge by:

• Allowing you to conduct split tests; product recommendations can be added to any page so you to see which combinations generate most sales.
• Tailor your website and email campaigns based on your shoppers historical preferences and characteristics, making them feel directly targeted.
• Urgency messaging can resolve the cost of indecisive shoppers, let your guests know when the the stock is low on the items they are interested in.
• 69% of shoppers abandon carts, so show some value in your visitors time by following up with reminder emails, maybe offer free shipping or a discount code as a further motivation.

Ecommerce sites can be a cold place sometimes. Provide your customers with more of a human-touch and they will be far more likely to return in the new year.

New year, new data, new sales

The rise of ecommerce as we see today would not have been achievable without the emergence of Big Data. This refers to vast sets of data that can be analysed for patterns and trends in human interaction and behaviour.

The benefits of data analysis are undeniable; by understanding the way that your customers behave on your digital platform you can design a journey that best suits their preferences and boosts your sales. Keep a close eye on the data generated over the Christmas period to see how your customers best like to shop, then you can implement new measures in the new year that best suits your new customers preferences and taste.

Tracking your customers dissatisfaction by measuring high click-off rates can allow you to alter the customer experience. Use it to iron out the issues preventing your customers from returning to your site in the new year.

Work with a charity this Christmas

Why not partner with a charity this Christmas?

Partnering up with a local charity that holds importance to you and your team can be a great way to spread some joy this Christmas. As well as contributing to a good cause, creating partnerships is a great opportunity to build up your network, increase your brand awareness and prove to customers that there is a personality and heart behind your brand… not just for Christmas. Making a contribution (such as a small percentage of profits) to an aligned charity can be beneficial for both parties and audiences.

Partnerships like this tend to resonate with people, and you never know where it may lead you in the new year.

T0 wrap up (because its cold outside)

The holiday period is a great opportunity to generate some more exposure and convert new customers. But who says it needs to stop there?

Use our suggestions to really take advantage of the holiday rush. Show some investment in your customers time and preferences, and they will be far more likely to return in the new year.

Bunting’s personalisation tool will allow you to tailor your guests’ experience to a standard that best suits them. For a better customer experience and higher sales conversion, check it out for yourself.

Let us know if you have any other suggestions about converting the Christmas rush!