Adventures in Business and CRM

As an Internet Marketing Consultant, I often ask my clients one very important question before most consulting even begins. That question is one in which they often never know the answer to. The question that I am referring to can cost you thousands, even millions of dollars if you aren’t “in the know”.  Internet Retailers take a lot of pride in providing a clean experience  and great service, but what’s happening behind the scenes, that you aren’t keeping a close eye on? Where is the least attention given, that should be the most important areas of focus in e-commerce?

Generally, when I ask clients (or even other online marketers for that matter), what their Return Conversion Rate is, the response I receive is “my returnuh huh?” It’s funny that no one seems to know what I’m talking about. This is actually one of the more important metrics in Internet Marketing, yet so few people know anything about it.  So that leads me to my obvious question of the day:

Do you know what your Return Conversion Rate is?

When properly tracked, your return conversion rate has tremendous potential to push and pull your company in greater ways than you realize. It speaks sweet nothings into your ear… sweet data. Data that is very important in understanding your company’s brand awareness factor, service, and even overall culture. Yes, it’s that important. It’s that big.

What is a Return Conversion Rate?

Simply put, it’s when a potential customer visits your site, then leaves without converting (or buying anything), but later on returns to convert (or buy something). This measurement also includes first-time visitors who return, as well as exiting customers who eventually return to convert again.

If you own, or have worked for an online retailer, you know that great lengths are made to keep track of visitors on your site, and where exactly they’re coming from. You also know that rarely does a person purchase from a website on their first visit.  The average conversion rate for most new and returning customers on e-commerce site’s is 2%.

Yes, that’s it. Just 2%.

If returning visitors are a prime demographic for selling, why aren’t most marketers focused on converting these priceless visitors? Well, it’s not the easiest, and it’s quite time consuming. Internet marketers are now (more than ever) needing to shift their focus onto Customer Retention strategies.

Give Them Incentive To Stay

Customer retention hasn’t ever been more difficult than it is now. During our tough economic times, people are eager to change their spending habits. They’re willing to do almost anything to save an extra buck, even if it means changing their monthly cosmetic purchase to another online store… or worse, going to their local drug store. Times are changing, and if you’re going to be successful in business, you’ve got to stay flexible.

Each business has a special way that it can retain it’s current customers. You may be thinking big things need to be offered, but surprisingly, you’ll come to find that the little things seem to work just as well. For instance, Zappos.com starting offering free shipping to help keep their client retention efforts in momentum mode, and they have succeeded greatly. 75% of their customers are returning shoppers. They can justify a purchase with free shipping, and it’s really working for them. They have built a whole brand around their retention efforts, and many growing businesses should really take note. I can’t think of a better company with more clarity in their retention efforts than Zappos.

Retarget, Rebrand, and ReAdvertise

It’s time to take notice of your user’s habits and behaviors. Target your advertisements on what the person has done in the past. Retargeting is the most powerful way to grow that precious Return Conversion Rate.  Retargeting is also one of the only forms of advertising that can work with any size of retailer or business. The beauty of converting warmer leads is that is costs less, which is also a plus during times when many advertisers and marketers and looking to cut costs all around.

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