5x More Cost-Effective Marketing aka Retention Email Marketing

/ Blog / By

No matter how awesome your product…

The moment you acquire a lead you start losing them.

 
I’m curious… On average, how much time, energy, and money do you spend on getting new customers?
 
If you’re like most business owners, customer acquisition probably takes the vast majority of your efforts.
 
Acquiring leads is important for any business—but retaining existing customers is equally or even more important (and often ignored).
 
The math behind it is simple: A lead might become a paying customer one day… while an existing one is paying you already.
 
And did you know that the probability of selling to a new customer is 5-20% and 60-70% for an existing one? (1)
 
If that’s not a good enough reason to focus more on customer retention — here’re more facts in favor of retention marketing:
 
  1. It can cost up to 7x more to get a new customer, while it’s 5x more cost-effective to keep an existing one (2).
  2. Increasing your retention rate by only 5% can increase your profits by up to 95% — and 65% of your revenue is generated by existing customers (3).
  3. It can cost 16x more to bring a new customer to the same level as an existing one (4).
  4. You could simply reduce customer churn by 11% by reaching out to them (5).
  5. 80% of retail professionals believe that email is their best channel for customer retention (6).
  6. The likelihood of an existing customer making a second purchase in the first year is 32%, making a fifth purchase is 70%, and a tenth purchase is 83% (7).

It pays to retain. And email marketing is the best channel for retention. 

But before we look into some examples of retention email marketing… let’s make one thing very clear: “retention email” is not a single, one-size-fits-all email flow, nor is there a single target.
 
You can actively go after retention in many ways, in many scenarios, and for many individuals.
 
Retention email marketing works best when you send the right message to the right person at the right time. To do that, you must segment your list.
 
Retention is about increasing and maintaining engagement. So when someone signs up or creates an account, and then stops, you want to nudge them along. That is one form of retention.
 
When customers bought from you a couple of times and then stopped – introduce other products, services, or incentives to help them get the most out of your product or service. That’s another form of retention.
 

Examples of Retention Email Marketing

  • Welcome email sequence. A lot of business owners (and marketers) think of retention as something down the road. It’s not. Remember: No matter how awesome your product… The moment you acquire a lead you start losing them. A well-built welcome email series creates a strong, engaged relationship from first contact.

 

  • Thank you. People want to be appreciated. They want to be recognized as an individual, and not just as a $ sign, AOV, or LTV metric. A simple thank you email goes a long way to getting them back again. Any post-purchase email shows them they matter beyond just the sale.

 

  • Cart abandonment. With global abandonment rates hovering around 70%, you can scrape back a lot of lost revenue with a cart abandonment strategy. Guide them home.

 

  • Reminders. Go the extra mile and send timely reminders about accounts nearing expiration, or when to replenish consumable items. Customers will appreciate the effort. (One of the most successful and profitable email sequences I wrote is “Scrapping the bottom of the tub?“, a gentle reminder that it’s time to restock on their protein powder. 5 email sequence = +130k monthly sales on auto.)

 

  • Milestone. A milestone may be an anniversary of them becoming a customer or giving positive feedback on their accomplishments to encourage them to keep at it. Either way, they’ll feel great about you and your brand.

 

  • Report. Generating a weekly or monthly user report is a simple but effective way to increase engagement (and therefore retention).

 

  • Interactive. Higher engagement = better retention. Include videos, click-to-reveal, surveys, polls, etc. Make it fun, then use the data to further segment or tag by behavior.

 

  • Social Proof. One of the most subconscious and persuasive questions in your customer’s head is: “Do people like me do things like this?” Social proof build trust and identity. Show others using, downloading, and succeeding with you and your products.

 

  • Feedback/Reviews. Show them how much you want to improve for them, which will increase both gratitude and loyalty. Ask for feedback. Encourage (and reward?) reviews.

 

  • Appreciation. Send a quick little email for no reason at all other than to say “thanks for being a valued customer”. Kick it up a notch with a special gift.
 
As you can see, retention is a massive umbrella term.
Once you segment, you can start to identify who needs which type of customer retention email to keep them in the loop and happy.
 
And whether it’s welcome, restock, report, post-purchase, or anything in-between, I can help you make it fast, easy, and automatic 😉

y’all coming for supper or what?

Katja Mokotar
___
Katja Mokotar is a professional email Copywriter. She creates email strategies for CPG eCommerce that generate new & repeat customers… and can often be scaled to $1M and beyond.
—
REFERENCES:
1. [https://www.clickz.com/are-ecommerce-customer-retention-strategies-improving/105454/]
2. [https://copyhackers.com/2016/09/thank-you-pages-retention/]
3. [http://www.viabl.com/blog/relationships-matter-customer-retention-stats/]
4. [http://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2016/07/customer-retention-stats-studies-best-practices/]
5. [https://www.slideshare.net/ekolsky/cx-for-executives]
6. [https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Email-Marketing-Double-Win-Customer-Acquisition-Retention/1014239]
7. [http://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/retail-and-e-commerce-55173]
—