My previous article on online sales was all about targeting the right customers, attracting their attention and closing in great sales deal. Now imagine this: You have tapped into a niche customer segment, your customers are going crazy over your world-class products and you have made phenomenal sales over the past few months. What now? What do you think should be the next step in order to maintain the upward moving sales graph? You may say acquiring newer customers. While this is true to some extent and the idea of securing new customers may seem interesting, but what pays off in the longer run is investing some of your time, energy and money in retaining the already available goldmine you have - your existing customers!

The golden word is ‘remarketing’ and believe me when I say that it’s not a rocket science.  Let’s get started!

In this article you will learn:

• Why is it worth investing in your repeat customers
• What is remarketing and ways to do it
  
  

Why are already existing customers better than new customers?

Mostly when a business wants to increase its revenue, the first place it plans to invest is in new customers. This definitely helps with creating a profitable business but spending on customer retention is what leads to a long term success of a business. Let’s understand why.

Remarketing is targeting a particular set of customers who have viewed something on your e-commerce website and showed some interest. 

1. Already existing customers are easier to sell to

Customers, who have already purchased products and services from you, know you better than newer customers who would take some time to understand and trust your business. And especially when you are running on a shoe-string budget or you don’t have the time to invest in anything new, selling your products to repeat customers is the best utilisation of your resources.

Also read: Sell online: Your own e-commerce store vs. marketplaces

2. Already existing customers promote your business

Repeat customers are the best way to market your products. A happy satisfied customer will automatically spread a word or two about your products and recommend them to their friends and family. Can you imagine the amount of customers you can get only through referrals?

3. Already existing customers tend to try out your other products

When customers have tried and tested a single range of your products they are more likely to try out your other products too. This is due to the trust and faith that other products would turn out to be equally satisfactory like the rest of the products earlier purchased by them.  A report on ‘The value of online customer loyalty and how you can capture it’ by Bain & Company, shows that nearly 63% of online grocery shoppers prefer purchasing toiletries and Over the Counter (OTC) medications from their trusted online grocer.

4. Already existing customers bring in more money

Repeat customers tend to spend more as their relationship with your business grows older. For instance, if a customer bought only one to two apparels from your e-store the first time, it is likely that the next time they purchase, the number would go up. This clearly brings in more money which is beneficial for your business.

Needless to say, the stepping stones of every business are its customers and the only way to scale it is by focusing on customer retention.

Also read: Getting started with online sales? Here is everything you need to know

Remarketing: Definition and how to do it 

Almost all of us by now must have seen ads of various e-commerce websites, that you previously visited, appear on current websites you are browsing. Those tiny ads that crop up, luring us back to the e-store to purchase a product we didn’t buy earlier or must have left in the cart is a clever technique called remarketing.

In technical terms, remarketing is targeting a particular set of customers who have viewed something on your e-commerce website and showed some interest. Remarketing is a great way to re-engage those customers to purchase that product from your e-store. Remarketing ads are, thus, highly specific to each customer. If you are remarketing via Google, all you need to do is add a Google remarketing code to your e-commerce website which then tracks the customers using cookies and makes a list of remarketing audience.

There are different ways to remarket your products to your target audience:

• Ads for customers who have already visited your website: As mentioned above, this type of remarketing is for people who have already paid a visit to your e-commerce site but didn’t purchase any product for some or the other reason. For example, if you are remarketing using Google Adwords, your ads will appear throughout the browser’s display network. The same goes for Facebook and Instagram (shall discuss in details in my next article)
• Email remarketing: Email remarketing is yet another form of targeted remarketing that helps grab the attention of a particular audience. Email remarketing usually consists of email campaigns. It is quite versatile in nature and it can be used for many purposes other than selling your products to customers. You can improve your brand awareness and build a better relationship with your customers using email marketing. A research on consumer email tracker 2017 reveals that almost 99% of consumers check their personal mail account every day. Look at the scope a great remarketing campaign has here! Its enormous!
• Search retargeting: Search retargeting allows you to showcase your website to customers who have visited your e-store before or have made a purchase previously.
• Remarketing list search ads: Using this strategy you can retarget the visitors or customers bases on certain parameters like product cart addition, product search, purchase of certain value.
• Video remarketing: You can also display your remarketing ads on YouTube.
• Shopping remarketing: Shopping remarketing is for customers who have visisted or made a purchase on your website. Using this strategy, you can display special discounts and offers just for them.
  
  

Your repeat customers are an invaluable source of profit and using the above intelligent remarketing strategies; you can win them over and retain them for a long long time to come.

Also read: Wondering if you should build your own e-commerce website or not?

Image source: shutterstock.com

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