Can you believe it? The biggest retail event of the year has been and gone, just like that. Months of build up and meticulously working your way through your Black Friday checklist should hopefully mean that you now have an influx of exciting new customers. Go you! But here’s where the real work begins.
How can you keep these shoppers around now that the main event is over? Every Shopify store’s worst nightmare is to spend huge amounts of budget on customer acquisition over BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) only to realize it’s all gone on ‘one and done’ customers who they’ll never see again. It’s costly and it creates uncomfortable seasonal sales cycles that are hard to break out of. But don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. With the help of this post-BFCM checklist you’ll be able to drive more repeat revenue from your new customer base! So let’s dive in.
1. Promote your loyalty program to new customers
To state the obvious here, no one is going to keep coming back to you if they don’t know all of the great reasons that they should. This simple first step should never be overlooked, and our own BFCM data even showed that 66% of customers would be happy to join a loyalty program if they had a positive black friday experience!
To promote your loyalty program send an email to new customers with the benefits of signing up as well as what their points balance would be, or try something different like the pop up Ozone Coffee has done in this example to appeal to new customers and browsers too.
You could entice this new customer segment by giving them bonus points just for signing up, or rewarding them with points for giving you additional data that will help you create a better communication strategy with them.
2. Prioritize personalization
People love personalization. And unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot more than inserting a ‘name’ tag into your subject line! We’re talking personalized points balance emails, recommended products based on previous purchases from your Shopify store, surprise and delight emails with unexpected points allocations – the more special you can make your new BFCM customers feel, the better. A simple ‘points reminder’ email might be all it takes to bridge the gap between Black Friday and a Christmas purchase, as they will become aware of the points they have to spend and realize that they can save money on some of their gift ideas.
3. Offer early access to sales or new products
Another really interesting statistic we saw in our BFCM research was that shoppers rate early access to sales or new products just as much as discounts when it comes to influencing a purchase. We also know that 79% of online shoppers will stay loyal to brands if they can unlock exclusive benefits – so this tip has a huge amount of potential!
Give your new customers that VIP feeling straight away by offering them early access to any additional sales you’re running, new products ,or limited edition items you’re launching before the year is out. Not only will these perks make customers feel like VIPs, but they’ll be more likely to tell others about the positive experience too! This can be communicated as simply and effectively as MoxieLash have in the example below.
4. Leverage free or discounted shipping
There’s no denying that people love free shipping – in fact 82% of consumers say free or discounted shipping would make them more likely to purchase during this year’s peak period. But don’t panic. While you might not be able to offer this across the board, you can certainly implement this perk and use it to your advantage by offering it to specific customer segments – like your new Black Friday customers.
We suggest offering free shipping to your Black Friday customers as a time-limited offer, so that they can sign up to your loyalty program and then get the benefit of free shipping just in time for their Christmas shopping!
5. Run double or triple points events
Keep your new customers engaged without the big price-slashing events by holding your own double points events instead. Offering your customers the one-off opportunity to receive lots of points at once means they will very quickly see their point balance grow, and will soon come back to your Shopify store to redeem rewards. If they were already considering doing some of their Christmas shopping with you – this might just turn that into a no-brainer!
This influx of points will accelerate their next purchase and make them feel good, creating a positive connection with your brand that will only strengthen with time. These positive connections influence your customers to keep returning, and therefore their spending will be higher. We know this to be true, as customers who redeem rewards have a 165% higher annual spend than customers who don’t.
6. Reward advocacy… then reward it some more!
In the Black Friday research we carried out we discovered that 78% of those who have a good BFCM experience would refer a friend or family member. This proves that people are willing to spread the word if they like you – so make it worth their while. Not only will this strengthen the relationship you have with your new BFCM customers when you reward them for their advocacy, but it will also help to reduce your acquisition costs as you gain new customers through your existing ones!
A great way to reward both your existing shopper and your soon to be customer is in the example below.
When shoppers refer their friends with nuud’s Happy Plan, nuud gives the advocate 10% off their next order and the new customer who’s just been referred gets 20% off theirs. It’s a win-win all round and that’s hard to say no to!
7. Rethink your rewards
62% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that aligns with their values, and we’re seeing more and more brands act on this by releasing eco-friendly collections or setting up recycle schemes. We know that consumers today are shopping more mindfully, so use this opportunity to connect with them on a deeper level.
Show you’re aligned with your new customers by letting them contribute to initiatives linked with their own values. You could let them trade in loyalty points to plant trees, or spend their points on charitable donations.
Customers will be more likely to spend with you again if they know their purchases aren’t only benefiting them, but the planet and others in need too. You can then also create content that shows the
Final thoughts
Get the most out of your newly acquired customers by making your way through this post-BFCM checklist and switching your focus to retention. By working on creating multiple touchpoints before Christmas, your seasonal shoppers could turn into seasoned spenders within no time – helping you drive up that all important Customer Lifetime Value!
To learn more about the power of customer loyalty and what it can do for you, sign up for our free academy.
