According to Alex Schultz, the VP of Growth at Meta, a good brand must have 20-30% of customers coming back every month. About 59% of Ecommerce websites prefer customer retention as the most important metric. These statistics clearly reflect the importance and necessity of customer retention and repeat purchases in Ecommerce.
With that being said, repeat purchases or repeat buying in eCommerce indicate customer loyalty which helps businesses create a customer base. But, what does the term "repeat purchases in Ecommerce" mean? Why is this metric important for Ecommerce businesses?
This blog post will help you navigate repeat buying in Ecommerce in depth. Furthermore, we will also explore the top 10 proven strategies which have helped businesses skyrocket their repeat purchases. Let's explore!
What Are Repeat Purchases In E-commerce?
Repeat purchases in Ecommerce refers to the situation when customers keep coming back to your store for more purchases over time. It doesn't focus on acquiring new customers but on making existing ones buy more services from the store.
Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR) is the Ecommerce business metric which measures how many people stay loyal to the brand and keeps making purchases over time. The repeat purchase may be a restock of the product the customer has already tried. Furthermore, there may also be some new product trials, based on the customer's preferences.
Repeat purchases in Ecommerce are important as they not just indicate the satisfaction of existing customers but also how they refer to other people. It's an important metric for measuring customer retention and loyalty over time.
Top 10 Ways to Increase Repeat Purchases in E-commerce in 2024
Below listed are the top 10 ways to increase repeat purchases in Ecommerce in 2024.
1. Enhancing Onboarding for a Seamless Customer Journey
The first point of contact between a brand and its visitors or customers is the onboarding journey. As the saying goes, the first impression is the last impression; businesses must work on improving and enhancing their customer journey.
Ecommerce businesses must focus on making the onboarding journey as seamless and quick as possible. Ecommerce businesses must work on creating a customer journey which is quick and guides the user throughout.
2. Strategic Customer Segmentation for Targeted Engagement
By tailoring marketing strategies to particular customer groups, strategic customer segmentation helps a brand to witness a high count of repeat purchases. Many companies choose to categorise their customers into different groups to reach them personally. Categorisation happens on the basis of demographics, purchase records, browsing behaviour, etc.
Through data analytics, brands can easily modify their segmentation strategies, and can further reach customers with tailor-made recommendations. On getting recommendations and offers that suit their field of interest, customers trust a brand and hence repeatedly buy products from the same company. This ultimately increases the repeat purchases in Ecommerce and also builds a healthy relationship between the brand and the shoppers.
3. Proactive Cart Abandonment Email Campaigns
Many times, customers leave products in the cart without any further action to make a purchase. In this case, a brand can send a series of abandoned cart recovery emails in the form of timely reminders to the customers, pushing them to buy the abandoned product in the cart. To deploy this strategy successfully, brands use marketing tools like promotional discount offers, personalised emails, strong CTAs etc.
These emails have a very high open and click-through rate, which shows its effectiveness in promoting a successful online purchase. Such continuous efforts from a brand assure a customer of quality products and services, which later increase repeat purchases in Ecommerce.
4. Exclusive Offers to Encourage Repeat Purchases
Retaining the existing customers is always easier and more profitable than attracting new customers. By providing the existing customers with appealing offers, a company can easily push them for regular purchases. If eCommerce retailers offer special benefits to their customers, there's a higher chance that they will witness an increase in repeat purchases per head.
For example, Amazon provides some add-on benefits to those customers who have taken its prime membership. By doing so, Amazon is retaining the old customers by introducing them with new exclusive offers from time to time. Some companies notify their customers about time-limited discounts, which creates an immediate desire to shop. This leads to a high sales season within no time. Exclusive offers also ensure a loyal bonding between the shoppers and the brands.
5. Innovative Incentives and Robust Referral Programs
Recent studies have discovered that 55-58% of shoppers opt for brands with loyalty programs for their monthly online purchases. The reason behind so many customers chasing brands with loyalty programs is the amount of savings they bring along with them. For example, if customers subscribe to Amazon's prime membership, Amazon promises them to offer extra incentives on premium and many other selected items.
Innovative incentives like voucher rewards, cashbacks and special discounts provide customers with some financial profits, and hence, many of them make repeat purchases to save a few bucks every time they shop online. As these offers are usually not available in offline mode, online retailers can take a decent advantage of it. Also, when a brand provides referral programs which often come with a cashback attraction, customers happily recommend the brand's name to their acquaintances.
Brands witness significant promotion through their referral programs. These programs also increase a brand's credibility, and hence customers put their faith in the brand and make repeat purchases in Ecommerce.
6. Tailored Product Recommendations and Personalized Communication
Personalisation is not simply a trend, but a fundamental expectation in the modern eCommerce sector. In fact, Personalised communication leads to 20 percent growth in sales, with almost 60 percent of the customers interested in repeat purchases. Through live agents or by using AI-powered chatbots, companies can offer tailor-made product recommendations to customers in the form of a conversation.
When the product recommendations are purely based on a customer's individual preferences, order history and current interest, it's almost a calculated prediction that a successful purchase is lurking around the corner. Tailored product recommendations through friendly conversations also assure the customers that the company prioritises their interests, which gradually improves the customers' lifetime value.
Diversify Promotion Delivery Methods Creatively
Creative promotion delivery methods can act like a differentiator when the usual method becomes less effective. Customers get hooked when they spot something unusual or surprising, for example a discount coupon code under a birthday wish through an email. Personalised and creative promotion methods will keep the customers engaged more with the brand.
The integration of VR and AR can change the approach to how brands can reach out to customers and keep. Instead of showing customers the images or videos of product trials, brands can allow them to try the product virtually. Brands like L'Oreal, and Prada have introduced AR to introduce their customers with a revolutionary way to try products.
Brands can use many such interactive ideas to make the customer revisit the shopping site. The goal is to stand out in a crowded digital landscape and increase repeat purchases in Ecommerce.
8. Spotlighting Customer Reviews for Trust Building
Customers are usually very meticulous while buying things online due to trust issues. However, by highlighting the positive comments and honest feedback, retailers can make the customers feel at ease. Genuine product reviews assure customers of a product's quality and hence convince them to make a purchase. Authentic testimonials are also proof of a company's transparency and credibility. This kind of honest marketing atmosphere calls in customers for repeat purchases.
On top of that, positive comments act as promoting agents as many people get influenced by them and buy the products. Also, by highlighting negative reviews, a company conveys to its customers that it's open to feedback and there is always the scope of improvement. Commitment directly becomes a key attracting factor here.
9. Streamlining Operations with Automated Sales and Support
Almost every task in an Ecommerce business can be automated now that AI has flooded the market. According to Automizy, more than 85% of companies have already adopted automation in some part or other of their businesses. When pointing towards AI in Ecommerce businesses, sales and support are the most crucial elements. With competition spiking high each day, automating this key element to increase efficiency would be the wisest move.
Imagine a situation where sales are automated; it will minimise the chance of errors, reduce friction time, and make scalability easy. When talking about support, businesses can reduce response time and improve issue resolution time. Collectively, tracking customers will become much easier, and we can gather data to make this automation more efficient.
10. Delivering Exceptional Customer Service Experiences
In the digital realm, where face-to-face interactions are replaced by clicks and scrolls, cultivating a strong customer experience is paramount.
Beyond quickly fixing problems, exceptional customer service also entails being proactive and anticipating the needs of the client. Ecommerce platforms can stand out by offering real-time support through chatbots, responsive email assistance, and even personalised follow-ups post-purchase. By treating customers not as mere transactions but as valued individuals, businesses create a memorable imprint that lingers beyond the checkout page.
Exceptional service also entails transparency in communication, setting realistic expectations, and being receptive to feedback. Businesses that excel in this arena foster trust, and in the world of Ecommerce, trust is the currency for enduring customer relationships and, consequently, increasing repeat purchases.
Conclusion
The term "repeat purchases in Ecommerce" encapsulates the invaluable practice of enticing customers to return and make subsequent transactions with an online business. It is the bedrock of profitability, encapsulating not merely a one-time exchange, but the establishment of enduring relationships with consumers.
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Repeat Purchases in E-commerce: FAQs
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