Customer Acquired ... Now What?

As the dust starts to settle from BFCM (Black Friday, Cyber Monday), marketers start to review those metrics tied to both sales and customer engagement. And the exciting work around the holidays as it pertains to customer retention is just starting to heat up.

The holiday customer acquisition started.?

There is a short, important timeframe for retailers to start educating and sharing who they are with their newly acquired customers, starting to build a relationship and lay even the potential of a loyal foundation.

What can be done to help not only retain newly acquired customers during the holiday selling season but to properly onboard them as new customers into your ecosystem?

Show Gratitude for Preference

Customers have numerous retailers to choose from, and they chose you. Especially during one of the busiest retail seasons, now more than ever is a time to show gratitude to both loyal and new shoppers.

Expressing gratitude never loses its impact. And with the speed of innovation, the ways in which to express this with a customer continues to evolve. A few ideas include dedicated dynamic messages to first-time shoppers or special notes during unboxing.

I recently had an interaction where I received a link to a Thank You video. Was this video recycled for other customers? Perhaps. But the memorable video made an impression that continues to stick with me.

Reimagine the Welcome Journey

How are you looking at the post-purchase journey? If the new customer created an account with your brand during purchase, the Welcome journey may play a role. Tailoring the Welcome journey to the season or holiday shouldn’t be dismissed but rather considered and reviewed on what could be possible.

Depending on your brand, and where your customer is in their holiday journey, the updated journey could include holiday hacks, customized gift guides, free printables, limited-time content and so on. During peak moments during the year, especially during the holidays, newly acquired customers may not just be looking for another item to gift but also perhaps another brand to consider for other moments throughout the year.

Help customers during this time so they can remember you the next time.

Personalized Recommendations for Future Purchase

If and when appropriate, consider extending an exclusive opportunity or discount on their next purchase. Whether or not the purchase was gifted, the incentive to try the brand again with a recommended item may help encourage your new customers to learn more about the brand and product offerings. The most important point within this retention plan is the recommendation.

Personalizing the offer based on the initial purchase further encourages curiosity while also expressing to the customer that you are paying attention to interests. Just remember that providing personalization at this stage sets the tone. Create a framework that allows your brand to continue providing personalized content and recommendations.

If the 1:1 personalization is not within reach this year, consider starting with great segmentation within your audiences. By identifying like-cohorts, brands can still deliver great recommendations and next-steps for your soon-to-be loyal customers.

It’s okay to start small and test this effort.

Track the Source

It may seem like a simple step, but it’s an important one. Tracking what sources bring in which customers will start to set up your playbook for next year as you start to look at CAC and LTV for each of these cohorts.

It may even be that sources are significant enough for your brand that those are drivers for journey content, Thank You messages and recommendations. Everyone is a fan of consistency.?

Prep Customer Experience for Success

One last point that is certainly never least is that while marketers work hard to acquire new customers, brands will need to arm CX teams with the blueprints for the acquisition plans. By sharing the plans ahead of time, addressing new customer concerns, questions and requests becomes that much easier for CX.?

The cross-collaboration not only begins to break down barriers, but the front lines will be able to gut check the great plans. The CX teams may be able to identify a red flag or anticipate questions ahead of go-live, which will allow for refinement and a better customer experience!

Communication is key when it comes to customer retention … and it goes beyond external customer communication. Internal communication is mandatory.?

Here’s to a great holiday season!