I have just created an ecommerce consultancy called Groundswell after spending 5 years as the Head of Ecommerce @ CRC and before that 5 years @ Ex Tech
Ecommerce is about acquisition, conversion and retention
We want to acquire users, convert them into customers and retain them as customers
I think even at this stage, in this very simple form it’s easy to forgot the top level maths that makes up the business
There are only 3 ways to grow an ecommerce company:
Increase the number of customers
Increase the average order value
Increase the average number of purchases per customer
The main reason for my talk is to highlight the need to focus on retention, I think we all have room to grow via retention
Make sure you know your current position within this framework
There are only 3 ways to grow an ecommerce company:
Increase the number of customers
Increase the average order value
Increase the average number of purchases per customer
The main reason for my talk is to highlight the need to focus on retention, I think we all have room to grow via retention
Focus on frequency and aov rather than acquisition, acquisition is expensive.
Better to optimise your existing offer before focusing on new customers – maximise current proposition and then multiply by adding customers
Focus on frequency and aov rather than acquisition, acquisition is expensive.
Better to optimise your existing offer before focusing on new customers – maximise current proposition and then multiply by adding customers
1xCustomers are expensive – calculate your %, it is more than likely around 80%
Create the segment and then look at Audience > Overview ? Users for the segment
There are a number of factors that can effect customer retention:
Your products i.e. are you selling good products? No doubt you have a mix, figure out what people are buying as first purchase and coming back to buy again from – lead with them in core areas of your site!
Customer Experience i.e. are you providing a great service, asos for example provide a great service in the ability to return products, no issues, buy clothes try them, keep what you like and send the rest back!
Marketing – primary channel being email, are you maximising it, blast emails vs targeted emails.
Realistically we all want results quite quickly – sourcing better products, improving delivery network and infrastructure is a longer game, with marketing we can act quite quickly!
Discounts can be % off, can be gift, can be free delivery etc.
Discounts can be % off, can be gift, can be free delivery etc.
If you see products people are buying more than 1 already, incentivise them to buy more
CRC tests that included promoting Free mostly all won – customers are inclined to buy more, will pay higher price to trigger free shipping
Threshold = 20% above your aov
Make sure to compare AOV before and after to measure performance
Bundling also helps improve cx and mitigate decision exhaustion, customer doesn't have to think as much – harder to get them to buy each product individually
As before if we focus on improving conversion rate it will be less expensive than sessions
Get email: Target new visitors only, make it consumable, add urgency and use exit intent rather than interrupt user
Create a conversion system - move through a process i.e. get customers to sign up to mailing list then activate conversion program.
Get email: Target new visitors only, make it consumable, add urgency and use exit intent rather than interrupt user
Retargeting ads
As before if we focus on improving conversion rate it will be less expensive than sessions
Create a conversion system - move through a process i.e. get customers to sign up to mailing list then activate conversion program.
Retargeting ads
We all get overwhelmed by the amount of things we want to do – this is needed to help prioritise and ultiamtely make sure your team has a focus and all working together