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Many retail organizations have grown confused on the best ways to retain long term success. Most of these organizations’ strategies are targeted toward new customer acquisition rather than existing customer retention. However, as recent research has pointed out, this is far from effective. For some context, retailers have a 60% to 70% chance of selling to a current customer, but only a 5% to 20% chance of selling to a new one. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why organizations continue to look to new customer acquisition for long term success. Any organization hoping to achieve this success should understand that the highest return on investment will be derived from developing a retail marketing strategy that focuses on their existing customers.
As mentioned previously, retail organizations hoping to improve their dynamic revenue growth should be focusing on strategies targeting their existing customers. The challenge for businesses has become how to balance satisfying both their existing customers and differentiate themselves enough to attract new customers. The infographic coupled alongside this post is meant to help achieve that balance. Businesses will have to start by finding the most effective way to integrate both their online and in-store selling strategies to provide the most optimal shopping experience for their customers. Proper integration allows organizations the ability to use selling tactics such as cross-selling and upselling to improve revenue growth.
In order to be truly successful in such a digital environment, your organization must be willing to adapt to an omnichannel marketing strategy. Techniques from this strategy are able to be implemented in the store, and finding ways to integrate such digital marketing tools into the store is highly effective in terms of customer engagement.
An omnichannel strategy’s strength is predicated on how long customers spend in retail locations. On average, most customers spend about 15 minutes to an hour in physical retail locations. More often than naught, they enter a store knowing exactly what they’re looking for and as once they purchase it they leave. A strong enough social media presence means that the customer never stops interacting with this business despite leaving their physical location. Text message offerings and different coupon codes sent via e-mail are the perfect ways to drag these customers back into the store.
Another way in which these strategies are impactful comes from the need for personalization. Customers are able to feel like they’re not just another number to businesses as a result of personalized communication and offerings. Customized texts alerting specific customers of a new shipment of a product they were looking for, or a deal that is exclusive to customers on an e-mail list are some ways in which personalization can make all the difference.
Alternatively, these customers could find their way to a businesses’ online webstore. With a sophisticated enough system, the level of personalization that can be offered online exceeds anything possible in store. Product recommendations can be suggested based on previous purchases and wish lists all while providing customers a simple shopping experience at their fingertips.
A perfect blend of digital and physical retail strategies is difficult to achieve. Determining which strategies are most effective will take some time, but with proper execution can result in tremendous results for any retail organization. If your organization is struggling to integrate these strategies efficiently, take some time to check out the infographic paired with this post. Courtesy of IDL Displays.
