Harness the potential of customer retention automation to increase customer loyalty and revenue for your Shopify business with these 5 techniques.
It’s no secret that increasing customer retention is key to a successful business. But keeping track of existing customer data, preferences, and history can be a daunting task.
Automating your whole customer lifecycle and retention strategies with Shopify can help you keep track of everything in one place, so we’ve put together the 5 ways you can automate your customer retention strategies with Shopify.
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Automation can help ensure each customer feels valued as well as establish authentic, long-lasting relationships with them. |
Not every single visitor landing on your website is ready to buy right away, so you might need to capture their contact information and “warm them up” by targeting them with a nurture campaign.
This email sequence aims at building positive rapport with your potential customers and cultivating brand loyalty by sending out:
The idea is to build a relationship first before coming forward with exclusive offers and promotions to establish trust and avoid coming across as too “salesy.”
Nurture campaigns automate the process of keeping in touch with your potential customers. Instead of manually sending out emails or texts, you can set up a campaign and let it run on autopilot.
When used correctly, nurture campaigns can be an invaluable tool to improve your customer satisfaction, churn rate, and retention rate and to keep them engaged with your store.
For example, JetBlue is known for its punny (excuse us) funny email nurturing campaigns. In this email, they’re coaxing information out of new and existing users by using a “dating profile.”
The end goal for this campaign is to get users to complete their profiles and become TrueBlue members.
At Patch, we know how important creating nurture campaigns are, which is why we think you shouldn’t be limited to just email.
Our Email and SMS Blasts are the perfect solution to creating perfectly tailored campaigns for your new customers, helping you build long-lasting relationships with them.
Our drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create nurturing campaigns that feature dynamic content and “Smart” sections (hyper-personalized content). Plus, you’ll be able to preview how your message will look on a desktop or mobile device.
A win-back campaign is an automated email campaign that is triggered when a customer has not made a purchase from your store in a certain period of time.
A win-back campaign aims to re-engage customers who have become inactive and encourage them to purchase from your store again.
By sending highly personalized and relevant emails, you can encourage customers to return to your store and make a purchase.
For example, Purina uses personalized messages (timed just right) to encourage customers to come back for another purchase.
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The key to running a successful win-back campaign is having the right insights, and we have everything you need.
Our innovative platform provides a comprehensive view of your customers through advanced analytics and insights, giving you access to purchase history, customer lifetime value, demographic information, and much more.
From there, you can build automated workflows for your win-back campaigns that segment customers based on purchase frequency and send targeted campaigns using SmartOptions to enhance your message.
Abandoned cart alerts are a key part of any good customer retention strategy for a Shopify store.
By sending automated messages to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts, you can quickly and easily remind them of the items they left and encourage them to complete their purchases.
Additionally, you can further encourage customers to finalize their purchases by providing a discount or incentive in your abandoned cart message.
While there may be some initial setup required to get your automated messages up and running, the potential ROI makes abandoned cart alerts a key part of any eCommerce customer retention strategy.
For example, Brooklinen uses both Email and SMS for their abandoned cart campaigns. First, they send out an email reminding the customer that they will hold the items in their cart for a limited time.
If the customer doesn’t take action, they send a second SMS that gives the customer a final (more immediate) nudge to return.
Running omnichannel campaigns like this is possible if you automate the customer journey.
Our customer journey mapping tools will help you put your eCommerce marketing on autopilot. With if-then logic and triggers, it’s easy to create a web of automations that targets the right customers at exactly the right time.
A customer loyalty program is a great way to automate your customer retention strategy for a Shopify store.
By offering rewards to loyal and repeat customers, you can encourage them to keep coming back. In addition, a loyalty program can help you track customer behavior and preferences, which can be valuable data for improving your store operations.
When done right, a customer loyalty program can be a powerful tool for driving repeat purchases and bolstering your bottom line.
For example, The North Face uses a point-based program where loyal customers can earn points for purchases, completing certain activities, and attending special events.
On top of the rewards they can earn, loyalty members also gain early access to sales, receive exclusive deals, and have a special return policy.
We know that setting up a loyalty program isn’t easy, so we’ve made it simple for you. The Patch platform has a built-in loyalty and rewards solution that you can set up in minutes.
Want to create a simple loyalty program that rewards customers for every dollar spent? No problem! Want to set up a complex, tiered loyalty program that unlocks more rewards as customers climb up the ranks? No problem!
Our fully customizable reward program lets you choose exactly how your paying customers will earn rewards and when.
Each of the strategies covered above typically requires a set of specialized customer retention tools.
The problem is you can’t collect customer data in one place to drastically improve the effectiveness of your retention efforts.
That’s where Patch comes into play. Patch is an end-to-end customer retention automation solution that provides a suite of tools to maximize retention and the value of each customer.
Top features include:
Automated customer journeys: Use triggers and actions to set up marketing automation that feels personal.
Email & SMS marketing blasts: Set up automated blasts targeting customer segments or your entire marketing list.
Loyalty & rewards programs: Incentivize your customers to engage with your brand by rewarding them with loyalty points that can only be spent with you.
Automatic review requests: Automatically solicit customer reviews to get more social proof and generate more sales.
With Patch, you can analyze your customer’s behavior with unrivaled accuracy to target your customers at the right time with the right message through the right marketing channel.
Here’s a quick video showing how the platform works:
Want to learn more about how Patch can help you automate your customer retention strategy? Get in touch with our team today to schedule a free demo.
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