Every successful brand has been able to succeed at one key component of their business: retaining the customer for a very long time, if not for life.
Adding a subscription or membership component to a brand deepens that brand connection, increases loyalty, and increases lifetime value.
It could even be predicted that all successful brands in the future have some subscription product or component to the business.
In this virtual event, we explore the future of subscriptions, both from a subscription product / box standpoint, and how to launch a new subscription product or membership component to the business, or simply just use subscription as a checkout option, with that oh so popular “subscribe and save” option.
To check out the entire virtual summit, go here. Or follow along below to get the sessions and some brief recaps.
Thank you to our amazing sponsors:
Privy – You need better pop ups, better segments, and a better email collection strategy. That is what Privy is for.
Gorgias – The customer service helpdesk for Ecommerce.
Omnisend – Omnichannel marketing automation. Email. SMS. Messenger. WhatsApp. And Push Notifications.
Make sure to check out our newly launched EcommerceTech Podcast, featuring information on the best of the best tools for ecommerce marketing as well as book your forever free consultation with Derric Haynie, Chief Ecommerce Technologist, Ecommercetech.io, to learn about all the tools available for your ecommerce store and which ones will work best for you.
Here’s the session list:
A talk by Val Geisler, CEO, Fix My Churn
Overview:
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: When working to grow, most businesses focus on new customer acquisition – looking at how to grow revenue by finding new customers through different channels. Although it is important to any company’s success to consistently find new acquisition channels and messaging, it is equally as important to retain the customers you have already won. Taking that a step further, it is crucial to have a strategy and a plan for regaining customers that you have lost.
Many businesses forget, or don’t seem to know, that it is 5X cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to get a new one.
The same can be true of regaining a lost customer. Think of customer relationships like friendships – a text, a phone call or the random get together can reaffirm and strengthen even a “long lost” friendship. But when it comes to new relationships, a significantly more amount of time and effort is required and the slightest hiccup can derail it. When it comes to growing your business, don’t forget the value former customers provide.
By changing your churn rate by just 1%, you can dramatically impact your monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and the same retention strategies used to keep existing customers can be applied to regaining lost customers. There are 3 strategies you can utilize to regain lost customers:
Strategy #1: Provide support beyond the customer service team. Every time you have the opportunity to speak with one of your customers, you should work to “wow” them. If they reach out to see when their package will arrive, get them that information and make sure to ask if there is anything else you can help them with. Then a couple weeks later, reach out to see how they are doing and ask if they are enjoying their products. By asking questions you gain valuable insight into your customer and provide a personalized experience that will positively impact their view of your company. Following up after the initial support inquiry will be a game changer for your business.
Strategy #2: Care about your customers! Utilize human capital to have 1-1 conversations that are not just about your business, but about the person you are talking to. Ask them what they do for work, what they are passionate about, what keeps them awake at night, etc. Get to know them and by doing so they share valuable information about what led them to your company, what you are doing right and (very importantly) what you are doing wrong.
Strategy #3: Build the habit. Help customers create a habit around purchasing from you. Remind them with a trigger that gets them to buy, create a routine around completing a purchase and make sure their purchase provides the feeling of a reward for them.
When working to gain customers, don’t forget the importance of retention. Make it easy for them to buy, personalize their journeys, and most importantly create positive experiences that keep them engaged and coming back for life.
To get a copy of The Dinner Party Strategy – and email series for fixing your churn, go here: fixmychurn.com/tdps.
If you are interested in hiring Val and her team to help with your customer retention, email [email protected] and don’t forget to listen to the Fix My Churn podcast at https://churnbuster.io/playing-for-keeps.
A talk by Ryan Pinkham, Director of Marketing – Demand Generation, Privy
Overview:
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: Growing your email list is absolutely crucial to the success of any Ecommerce business, but most sites have very low conversion rates with only 2% of visitors doing anything. So what do you do when 98% of your traffic is leaving your site without making a purchase? You offer a deal that entices them to provide their contact information so that you can market to them on a regular basis. According to product data obtained from Privy’s customer base, every email address a business can capture results in an average of $15.98 in revenue. Imagine how much that would amount to if you could convert even a small percentage of visitors. When it comes to growing your email list, there are 5 different strategies you can utilize.
2. The Cart Saver – Exit intent driven popups that are triggered as soon as a visitor’s mouse starts to move away from completing their purchase.
3.The Birthday Gift – Help your customers celebrate their birthday and drive future sales by offering them a discount or a free item on their birthday.
4. The Paid Traffic Converter – Target people coming from a specific campaign, like a newsletter, Facebook or Instagram ad with a spin to win offer.
5. The Upsell – Sending a triggered cross-sell offer at the point of checkout.
When you look at conversion differently and create a plan for getting people to opt-in on their first or second visit, it can improve conversion rates substantially. For example, 1% of people will register when simply asked for their email (with no other incentive) whereas 5% will provide their email for a discount and 10% will with a spin-to-win offer. The difference in revenue between 1% and 10% conversion rates will be dramatic for your business.
To learn more, check out privy.com/masterclass.
A talk by Elaine Sloboda, Partner Manager, ReCharge
Overview:
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: Every interaction you have with a customer is an opportunity to build and improve your relationship. The more interactions you have, the better it is for the relationship’s longevity. Any kind of interaction can contribute to lowering churn, but specifically any interaction that allows customers flexibility in dealing with their subscription. By making it easy for customers to see their monthly subscription, make changes and adjustments, you greatly increase your chance of retaining their business.
There is a huge correlation between churned customers and the flexibility of your subscription customer portal. People who can play around with their subscription and make changes are much more likely to stick around than people who can’t easily skip/cancel/make changes to their monthly delivery. Active customers also tend to engage in 50% more transactions overall, so it is important to make it easy for them to interact with your tools.
There are two types of customer churn:
If you make it easy for them to do any of these things, you will retain them as a customer. But if it is difficult to figure out, they are more likely to cancel their subscription. They may have the intention to re-subscribe, but distractions happen and while waiting for them to remember to sign up again you have lost valuable business.
2. Involuntary/Passive Churn – These customers need to update their credit card information or renew their subscription, but are not actively deciding to stop utilizing your service. By generating an automatic notification to the customer letting them know they need to do something, you can eliminate this type of involuntary churn, doing both your company and your customers a favor.
Bottom line, by optimizing the subscriber experience through easy navigation, many calls to action, consolidating information and providing value added content you can increase the lifetime value of your customers, improving the overall customer experience and decreasing churn.
To download the State of Physical Subscription Commerce Report from ReCharge, click here.
A talk by Nehal Kazim, CEO, Ad Pros
Overview:
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: When you are looking to scale, the most important thing to do is make sure everyone is on the same page. Everyone should be crystal clear on what the milestones you are looking to achieve are and why, what it will look like when you achieve the goals and what you will be able to do once you succeed. Conflicting goals will create problems that directly affect your bottom line.
The best way to achieve scalability is by utilizing data to make decisions. Any analysis that is based on gut or emotions is superficial and doesn’t create confidence. Data will drive the confidence needed to make high quality decisions. Tracking and monitoring your data will provide the familiarity necessary to know when to increase, pause or cancel your spending.
Questions to ask yourself to decide whether or not to scale:
Most companies make decisions prematurely when they see unfavorable results. It is important to remember that you cannot let the external goals and pressures lead you to an irrational decision. Campaigns need time to run, to allow ad networks algorithms the time necessary to correct themselves. Bottom line, establishing clear metrics, being patient and checking your emotions at the door (although not easy) is the best way to scale your ad spend, and thus your business.
See below for a Facebook Ad Tip from Ad Pros:
A talk by Philippe Roireau, Head of Partnerships and Events, Gorgias
Overview: Conversational Commerce is all about increasing conversions through 1:1 real-time interactions. In this session, you’ll learn how to create engaging multi-channel messaging at scale, including chat campaigns, that boost conversion rates and improve ROAS and how to measure the impact on your brand growth.
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: Now, more than ever, it is crucial for ecommerce brands to pay attention to consumer needs and provide personalized experiences that allow their company to stand out from the pack. Every conversation is an opportunity to wow your customers, giving you the chance to upsell and guide them where you want them to go.
Conversational commerce is a tool you can utilize to monetize your pre and post sale conversations, and it can be used across all of your communication channels. The impact on your sales is a combination of your team’s response time to customer questions along with your brands tone.
Here are some examples of how you can use conversational commerce across different platforms:
Click to Messenger Ads
Facebook and Instagram Comments
SMS
Website Chats
Conversational commerce can increase customer service efficiencies by 30%, will improve your return on ad spend and increase your overall conversion rate. The ability to interact with customers right when they are thinking about your products is the best time to get a sale. Timing is everything.
If you are interested in utilizing Gorgias for your conversation commerce, you can apply for up to 6 months free here: https://gorgias.grsm.io/EcomCovid
A talk by Kurt Elster, Senior Ecommerce Consultant, Ethercycle
Overview: Submit your site for a quick conversion rate optimization examination and teardown by the legendary Kurt Elster.
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: When creating your website, it is important to make your homepage easy to navigate for your users. You have to steer them towards your products and guide them to make a purchase.
Some things to keep in mind:
A talk by Greg Zakowicz, Marketing Strategist & Content Team Lead, Omnisend
Overview:
Key Take-Aways:
Summary: When thinking about your customers’ journey, it is important to remember that the process isn’t linear. They will hear your messaging across multiple platforms and all of them contribute to their decision to buy from you. Omnichannel marketing is even more important today considering all of the promotional noise that online shoppers can be lost in. Generic, one-for-all messaging no longer wins attention and it is up to you to distinguish your company from the rest.
One way to do that is by adding SMS as a complementary tool to your other channels. Why should you add SMS? Text messages see open rates of 98% and engagement rates of 29%. That is massively more than any other type of messaging and when done correctly can contribute to up to 47% conversion rates.
Today, 63% of consumers expect personalized messaging from brands and retailers. Not only personalized to them, but also personalized to the experience they had on a retailers site. Nurturing the customer relationship through multiple, personalized touchpoints, including thank you messaging (“thank you for shopping with us”, “thank you for visiting our site”) will go a long way to gaining repeat customers.
Layering text messaging in with your email and outreach campaigns along with personalized messages will positively impact your customers experience and therefore your revenue.
To learn more about SMS marketing, download the “SMS Marketing Guide – The Rise of SMS Marketing: 5 tactics to Stay Ahead of the Curve” here www.omnisend.com.
