Sometimes we can be so focused on getting prospective customers to our online store that we forget about what happens after we convert them. Certainly, it’s exciting to watch the orders come in and the packages ship out. But what are you doing to retain these customers into the future, increase the average order value and improve long-term loyalty and retention? These strategies can help you make the most of your marketing efforts.

Loyalty & Rewards Program

Studies have found that adding a loyalty and rewards program to your online store is one of most powerful methods you can incorporate to get repeat sales from new customers. Everyone likes to get something for nothing or something at a discount. However, you want to be sure that you get proper ecommerce hosting.

Integrating a simple loyalty and rewards program is as easy as visiting the App Store of your given shopping cart and selecting a plugin (some are free, and others cost a nominal fee).

According to Forbes, “Loyalty programs are proven to increase customer lifetime value by up to 30% or more by increasing visit frequency, increasing spend per visit, and winning back lost customers.”

The Power of the Newsletter

If you are not sending newsletters to customers yet, shame on you! They are powerful ways to stay connected, increase reach and improve your bottom line with flash sales, new product announcements, showcases and more. Sending out biweekly or monthly newsletters is an easy way to maintain a personal voice with your customers.

What’s more, new customers can be offered an instant discount (typically 10%) for signing up. This is something you can effortlessly incorporate into your checkout cart. According to leading shopping cart provider, Shopify, they are one of the “5 most powerful customer retention strategies” that you can use.

Post Purchase Email

Want to make post purchasing valuable for you and the new or existing customer? Then send them an immediate follow-up email. In that email, you can also remind them of the shipping date, the invoice number and your return policy. Even better is that you can showcase a few related products that the customer may like as well but didn’t order, further increasing your average order value.

According to Kissmetrics, a post-sale email has the potential to engage customers and increase average order value or future order value exponentially. They’re easy to setup, and you can automate the entire process via new apps and integrations for your shopping cart.

CRM to Follow the Journey

Aligning your post purchase marketing strategy to give a boost to your bottom line is a lot easier when you have a way to track and follow the customer journey. For this element, you’ll want to consider using a cross-channel ecommerce CRM software solution.

Newer services can tether to your existing shopping cart and sales channels, giving you a complete look at your customers. It’s an easy way to track all your post purchase marketing efforts, so you can notch more wins in your strategy belt each week.

Marketing is hard work. You’ve done a lot to drive traffic and new customers to your online store and secure sales. Now it’s time to make the most of these efforts on the backend. With the right post purchasing strategies like these in place, you’ll be primed to score big time and time again.