With all of the trials and tribulations that 2020 has brought, many retailers and consumers have turned online to satisfy their shopping needs. Research done by eMarketer shows that globally, ecommerce sales will increase to account for 16% of total retail sales.
Despite this huge industry boom, customer acquisition has become harder than ever. Only 33% of shoppers in the first half of 2020 said that they were likely to shop with brands that they’ve never shopped with before, with this figure falling to 14% when asked to think about the latter half of 2020. This is a tough fact to come to terms with, but there’s still hope for businesses seeking to increase their customer acquisition before the end of the year.
Customers trust the opinions of people that they know. By using this fact, businesses can utilize these positive opinions to increase customer acquisition from the loved ones of already happy customers. The period between Black Friday and Christmas is a perfect time to use newly acquired seasonal shoppers to further increase customer acquisition as a cost-effective tool. Here’s how.
Learn six ways to sustain your peak period success into the new year by downloading our Crunch time guide
⭐️ Generate more reviews
According to data generated by Podium, 93% of consumers have reported that online reviews have a significant
Luckily, 38% more customers reported being willing to leave reviews in the second half of 2020 than the first, meaning all your business needs to do is just ask them.
A great way to do this is by reaching out to all of your new customers from the previous peak period and offer them a reward for leaving a review or attaching an image alongside their feedback. This shows customers that you value their honest feedback as well as motivating new customers to trust your business faster.
An example of this in action is Annmarie Skin Care. The beauty brand integrated its loyalty program with their review platform, meaning they could reward customers 200 points per review. Within their review system, Annmarie also allows users to review products by their skincare type, making the process of choosing the right skincare simpler for prospective buyers.
? Focus on referrals
Referrals are the backbone of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. 92% of customers report believing recommendations from family and friends before any other form of marketing. The conversion rate for a referral is around 13%. It’s also one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing as it allows your product and service to largely do the work for you.
However, customers don’t always have the tools they need to effectively refer their friends and family and sometimes they simply forget. Encouraging more referrals is therefore vital.
Communicating with new customers acquired over the peak season using emails welcoming them into your loyalty program is a great place to start. Offering them loyalty points for every friend that they refer to your brand allows you to both remind a customer to refer to their friends, and incentivize them to refer as well.
A key example of the effectiveness of referrals is shown by Manuka Doctor. There’s very clear signposting on their navigation page to the “Refer-a-friend” tab. This leads customers to a page that tells them exactly what the steps are for making a referral and what benefits they can expect to gain from it. The shopper referred to Manuka Doctor gets 15% off their first order, while the referrer gets £10 of loyalty credit.
Customers acquired during the peak season are some of the perfect spokespeople for your brand. Despite the costly nature of acquiring these customers in the first place, especially with a crowded ecommerce marketplace, the marketing investment pays for itself. You’re utilizing these customers for WOM referrals, positive reviews and personal recommendations. Customers are already willing to do this for the brands they love, they just need to be given a reminder or a motivation to do so.
About the author
Mollie Woolnough-Rai
Mollie is a Senior Content Marketing Executive at LoyaltyLion. After graduating from UCL in 2016, she has worked both in-house and at marketing agencies providing expertise in content for both B2B and B2C clients. At LoyaltyLion, Mollie manages our content, making sure our readers get the best quality resources about customer loyalty and retention.
