The first step in any business is to confirm you actually have a market for your product. You want to be sure you will have customers buying from you.
For sure, recruiting new paying customers is no small feat, but there’s no time to rest on your laurels – you’re only halfway there.
The next step is to encourage your new customers to buy from you again. And again, and again, and again!
Repeat customers are the lifeblood of a PROFITABLE online store!
You want to attract more profitable customers
Understand the buyer journey
After you transform your website visitors into buyers, you still want to keep nurturing your new customers with the view to getting a second purchase.
A one-off buyer isn’t likely to be all that profitable, whereas a repeat buyer significantly increases your profitability!
So to help you drive those repeat purchases, you really need to learn about your customer’s buyer journey.
What products are they likely to buy after their first purchase? How long are they likely to keep buying from you over time?
(If you, like I was, sell in the baby / new parent space, then you only have a short window of opportunity to generate repeat purchases.)
Once you understand your best customers’ likely repeat purchase behaviour, you can launch the right automated email campaigns (funnels) to cross-sell and up-sell the right products to each new customer.
That means – automatically sending a series of emails to new customers after they purchase from you with the goal of getting a second purchase.
Automate your eCommerce sales
Automating the kind of email marketing that drives repeat sales rewards you because of two simple marketing principles:
- You can often generate more revenue from existing customers (as compared to potential/new customers); and,
- The sales you generate come at a much lower investment cost (so you enjoy more profitable sales).
With these two concepts in mind, sending automated email funnels to your customer base can significantly increase your chances for generating more sales, more profitably, over time.
Sounds pretty fabulous right?
Don’t just rely on newsletters…
Bear in mind that your customers’ needs cover a wide spectrum. The newbies will have vastly different needs compared to your long-time customers.
By understanding your ideal customer’s Buyer Journey, you can launch automated email campaigns that serve each customer’s individual needs at each stage of their time with you, from potential to long-term customer.
I know, I know, you all send out a regular email newsletter, but you’re leaving serious moula on the table if you’re just relying on those…
If you try to appeal to a broad spectrum of customer needs with generic emails, at best your success rate will be hit-and-miss, at worst, just miss.
Whereas, if each new customer receives an automated email sequence tailored to EXACTLY where they are in their buyer journey, it will transform your marketing results.
Whoever your customer may be, timely, topical and encouraging emails will help them use your products successfully (and buy more), as their needs and requirements change over time.
Here’s what I mean:
For example, if you sell organic or eco-friendly baby products, your customers might first come to you when they’re pregnant. You might start by selling them eco-friendly nappies (or diapers) and reusable nursing pads.
But you’ll know, once the baby is born, your customer will then go through a fairly predictable series of purchase opportunities during their relationship with your business (the Buyer Journey).
Such as organic baby clothes in various sizes, BPA free teething rings, bottles or containers, swimming nappies (or diapers) and organic skincare, just to name a few.
Some Do’s & Don’ts
>> Don’t just sit back and assume that your customer will KNOW to come back and check your website when they need more products, just because they’ve purchased from you once before.
>> Don’t just assume your customer will SEE what they want in a generic email newsletter filled with a variety of products aimed at customers at all points along the buyer journey.
>> DO map out the key purchase opportunities at all stages throughout your typical buyer journey AND set up automated email campaigns that will be triggered at set time intervals after their first purchase from your website.
I can guarantee you, the results will blow you away!
>> Your email open rates, click throughs and resultant sales will increase because they will be more focused and targeted on the precise needs of your customers at any point in time.
>> You’ll be able to range your products more effectively, because you’ll be in the position to predict what products you’ll need over time.
>> You’ll spend less time and money chasing after new customers all the time, because you’ll be focused on retaining and selling the ones you’ve already got.
>> AND your customers will love you for only contacting them about something that really interests them, which increases the chance of them becoming raving fans and telling others about your brand and your website!
Now that’s what I call WINNING!
Need some one on one support to tailor these strategies to your own business? If understanding your buyer journey and implementing email automation into your business to grow your eCommerce sales sounds perfect for you but you’re not sure where to start or don’t have the time to do it, I’d love to help you!
Seriously, turning product-based websites into lucrative sales machines is my special zone of genius. Would you like to chat about how this could work for you and your business?
Yes? Great! Click here to let me know your details and we’ll schedule a chat!
