As a retailer, it can be tempting to view Black Friday sales as the perfect opportunity to clean out old stock, or rack up a month’s worth of sales in one weekend.
However, viewing sales opportunities on face value can render you as a one-and-done business in the eyes of your audience. Instead, adding value to your customer experience will ensure you convert first-time customers into loyal return prospects.
As a white label digital marketing agency, we’ve spent years setting up businesses for success on Black Friday and beyond.
Get to know how to do the same with this blog below.
Collate Customer Data
Understanding your audience is the first step as you attempt to satisfy customer needs and mitigate their pain points.
This requires a deep library of their preferences and spending habits which can be collected using cookies, surveys, and tools such as Google Analytics.
Once you understand this data, it can be put to use tailoring sales, branding, and marketing strategies.
If you find your audience prefers to receive just one email per week from you, for example, you can take advantage of such insights to keep customers happy.
Personalise Your Service
You may sell a certain product, but the service you provide via your website and in-store is equally important to converting customers. The days of sales-centric business are gone and the demands of your audience are growing.
If a business hasn’t tweaked their website to offer personalised functionality and a streamlined user experience, it will appear outdated.
Including a ‘Featured Products’ or a ‘You May Also Like’ section in your site will make your audience feel understood, leading to greater conversions and a more loyal customer base.
Offering flexible shipping options has also been proven to improve customer retention in the long-term, and is just the cherry on top of many customers’ shopping experience.
Shopify found that 59% of online shoppers say free shipping would improve their experience.
Champion Customers
Word-of-mouth marketing has been recognised as pivotal to many businesses’ success.
A study by Nielsen found that 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. By highlighting these people and giving them a voice among your audience, trust in your brand will increase and sales along with it.
Gartner suggests a few types of customer advocacy that you can work into your strategy:
- Social sharing
- Customer quotes/reviews
- Referral incentives
Garnter also found that 76% of customers use three or more advocacy sources before purchasing, so the more the merrier in this space.
By involving your customers in the reach of your marketing strategy, you’re bound to be seen and heard in reaches far wider than a billboard or paid social ad could achieve.
Implementing some of these strategies this Black Friday and beyond will ensure that customers are signed up for the long haul rather than for simple sales.
Look Long-term
The value of customer retention is clear to see. This Bain & Company report found that customer spend per month since first purchase rises above 46% by the 36-month.
This is why it’s important to view your customers as long-term assets who deserve constant attention and devotion.
To set your business and its clients up for long-term success, get in touch with Agency Stack and allow us to develop a strategy to suit your marketing goals.