Retaining Customers After the Christmas Holidays
The Christmas period is one of the busiest times of year for retailers, with billions upon billions in consumer currency flowing through the markets in all industries for gifts, decorations, food, and services; the average household spend at Christmas increases by 29%! But the time afterward can be as quiet as the holiday is loud, and customers can soon forget your brand and message. So how do you retain customers after Christmas?
Personalised Interaction
Customers react positively to the personal touch – and it can benefit you greatly in terms of post-Christmas customer retention. You will have garnered customer data on an individual level via your purchasing portal, as customers will have created accounts in order to purchase from you. This enables you to use their purchase history to personalise their customer experience the next time they visit your site; with suggested products, they might like. You will also have data on customer purchasing habits over the Christmas season, enabling you to learn more about your core demographics and tailor your shopping experience to suit.
Exclusive Offers
Another way you can keep customers gained through the Christmas rush is by carefully timing special offers for the post-holiday period. Special discounts can make the most of increased spending post-Christmas, while limited time offers can incentivise customers to act on new purchases. Other ways to generate exclusivity, and in turn an increase in repeat customer, is the use of loyalty programs for previous customers, whereby they can reap rewards from repeat purchases – giving them the sense of receiving ‘VIP’ treatment.
Email Marketing
When customers create an account with your e-commerce platform or input their email address in order to confirm a sale, many will also sign up to your mailing list for information on future products and sales. Email marketing is one of the most impactful ways to market a business, as a direct method of communication with your customers with an extremely high ROI.
Promotional Gifts
Rather than trying to re-engage customers immediately after their Christmas engagement, you could instead wait for the next holiday, and leverage that with promotional offers and gifts for previous customers. For example, you could utilise Valentine’s Day to offer a discount if a code is entered at the checkout. You could also leverage social media and hold contests with the promise of a free gift to the winning entrant. These have the added bonus of upping your visibility on social media platforms, garnering new customers as well as engaging existing ones.
Free Shipping
Lastly, free shipping is a major draw for customers, with any e-commerce company. Amazon is the perfect example of this phenomenon; how many times have you bought more products simply to cross the £20 free shipping threshold? It may cost money to offer free shipping on products, but this is easily recouped in the selling of volume products, and the perception of ease and accessibility forwarded to customers.
