Looking where no one does

My head-scratcher this week is about…

Questions.

In 2006, Michael Burry predicted the housing market's collapse by doing something nobody (no investors, banks, brokers, or aspiring homeowners) thought of doing: looking at the numbers.?

The numbers were available for everyone to see.?

His data-driven decisions after seeing the numbers led to a personal profit of $100 million. And an additional $700 million for his investors.

Michael asked himself “how” and “why” and then turned the answers in his favor.?

The idea brought me to today’s subject: using questions to increase the CLV inside a company.

Today we’re also wrapping up my series of emails discussing practical tips for increasing CLV - if you missed the previous episodes, I also published them on LinkedIn.?

Let’s go out in style with our final 5 ideas!

1. Extend product categories.

Amazon started as a bookstore.

Today it offers virtually anything.?

Why the change?

Because they saw the need to address customers’ ever changing needs & preferences.?

Diversify your product portfolio as much as possible to become the one-shop-stop for your existing customers.?

Since you’ve already worked so hard on acquiring them, why not offer them the option of spending more in your shop?

2.Find out where it hurts the most.

If you twist your ankle, you go to the doctor, point to it and say, “It hurts.”

You don’t waste any time, leave nothing to chance, and don’t play a guessing game with your doctor.?

If your business growth has halted, you pour more money into the acquisition process and hope for the best.?

Or go the other way around, and cut down marketing altogether.?

None of these are viable solutions.?

The only viable solution to restart your business is to do an x-ray analysis on it and see where’s the issue:

• Are you acquiring the wrong customers?
• Is the CAC: CLV ratio unbalanced?
• Are you promoting low-quality products?
• Are there issues with the delivery process?
• Is your Customer Success department overwhelmed?

Ask yourself, “Why?” and go from there.

3. Review your e-mail approach.

The rule of thumb in email marketing is sending one email/per week. Not often enough to become annoying, not seldom, so people don’t forget about you.?

My rule of thumb?

Send an email when it’s appropriate.?

Use the Average Days Between Transactions (ADBT) metric to anticipate the moment when customers need to restock your products.?

Then tweak your e-mail campaigns to send “time to restock” messages at the right time to the right person.

Wait:?

- for the customer to use your product

- for the customer to see progress with your product

- for the customer to need your product.

Don’t send an email once a week because someone said so. Use your data as a unique source of truth and adjust the email marketing flows & remarketing campaigns to make sense.?

For your business and your customers.

4. Invest in onboarding

Have you ever gone on a first date so exceptional you were sure you would marry that person?

That’s the feeling you need to evoke in your new customers.

Look at the onboarding stage as the moment when you’re guiding customers toward extracting the most possible value from you.

So ask yourself two fundamental questions:

• What’s the job of the product?
• How do I make sure the product is doing its job?

Find the answers - then go from there.

5. Prevent buyer’s remorse.

The human brain is trained to look for danger.?

On the checkout page, that danger is translated into questions:

• What if they don’t send me the product and I lose my money?
• What if the dress doesn’t fit, and I won’t look good at my engagement dinner?
• What if I want to return the product, but the process would be complicated, so I’m left with an ugly piece of furniture ruining my bedroom’s design?

And how do brands react to these questions?

They thank customers for their orders.?

Send the order number.?

Ask for a positive review.?

You can do better, can’t you?

You can address the buyer’s remorse on your thank you page by offering client testimonials and product reviews, offering options to track the delivery, and being very clear about the return process.?

Be transparent. Be empathetic.?

Be unique and eliminate the need for frustrating customer care interactions by answering customers’ questions even before they ask them.?

Coincidentally, the elements I mentioned above are also the most neglected ones on a thank-you page.?

If that’s not an opportunity to stand out from the crowd, then I don’t know what is…

???CVO Live tomorrow: book your seat

While analytics platforms are important, they shouldn't define what makes your business successful. Most KPIs are useless in that sense.?

Tomorrow, for the new CVO LIVE episode, I'm joined by ?? Russell McAthy - CEO & Founder @Ringside Data.

Russell will share his best insights on creating a smart attribution model for eCommerce companies.

You'll learn about the importance of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and how to get better data. You'll also discover effective strategies for multi-channel marketing.

Tune in to gain a fresh perspective on how to drive more revenue through effective CRO practices.

We're going LIVE at 4 PM - tomorrow, the 11th of May. You in?

Register here.

Did you know that...

... you can use Omniconvert Reveal to identify the average revenue/customer for your loyal customers vs. your bargain hunters??

This means you can identify customers who are bringing in the most value and those who waste your time without making it worth our while.

Armed with this info, you could attract more people like your best customers, prioritize problem-solving and even find ideal candidates for your loyalty programs.?

Check out all Reveal Features here.