For a lot of business owners building their own Shopify stores, the most important thing to prioritize will often be ‘customer acquisition’. You need to attract customers to your store consistently to increase your profits and keep your company running smoothly. However, look at the cost of customer retention versus customer acquisition, and you’ll quickly discover that acquiring clients shouldn’t be the only focus of your online brand.
The reality is that while all customers should have a strategy for finding new customers as often as possible, true success lies within a more comprehensive strategy of customer acquisition, retention and expansion. Once you discover and attract new clients, you need to convert them into regular, repeat clients, and brand advocates.
After all, retaining customers can be up to 25 times cheaper than finding new clients, and loyal customers are also 7 times more likely to try your new products and services.
So, how do you manage customers the right way?
Customer acquisition is the process of tracking down your ideal customer (defined by a user persona) and persuading them to purchase from your ecommerce store. Shopify store owners have a variety of ways to acquire potential ecommerce customers, including:
Where customer acquisition focuses on capturing the attention of your target audience and convincing them to make an initial purchase, customer retention involves using various activities to increase your number of repeat customers, and their lifetime value.
The importance of customer acquisition and retention can’t be underestimated for Shopify business owners. The more new customers you acquire and turn into repeat buyers, the more you can maintain a consistent source of income for your company.
Customer retention is the second step in a customer acquisition, retention and expansion strategy which sets your business apart from your competition. Once you’ve attracted your audience to your business, you can boost retention with:
While there are a number of strategies involved in acquiring, and retaining customers, the best way to ensure you can attract, convert, and expand your customer base, is with personalization. Personalized shopping experiences improve your chances of converting customers, by helping them to find the kinds of products they’re most likely to want from your store from day one.
As you develop your relationship with your target audience, personal product suggestions and “add-to-cart” options will simplify the shopping process for your existing customers and improve their chances of adding more products to their basket.
Finally, personalization improves your chances of expanding your audience base, by providing a more meaningful experience to your target audience. The personalized experience your customers get will make it more likely they’ll want to share their experiences with your company with the world.
Customer acquisition will always be an important part of running a successful Shopify company. However, it’s important not to focus on acquisition alone. A comprehensive strategy for customer acquisition, retention and expansion will ensure you can get the most value out of your customers over time.
Learn more about how you can use personalization to boost your customer retention and expansion strategy with Dialogue today!