How can e-commerce brands improve customer retention?
For e-commerce brands looking to grow and build trust with their customers, retention is key
And with the right resources — such as a reviews program and a loyalty program — you can see those repeat purchases along with an increase in customer lifetime value (CLTV). Here’s how reviews and loyalty can be leveraged to drive retention.
Why reviews and loyalty work better together
Reviews and loyalty play a large role in the overall customer journey and experience with a brand. According to Yotpo’s State of Brand Loyalty survey, almost 40% of global shoppers would consider themselves loyal to a brand after making five or more purchases. And another Yotpo survey found that more than half of UK shoppers stated that reviews were very important when it came to making purchasing decisions. When used together, these solutions not only impact how potential customers view your brand and products, but also how they want to interact with it and how they feel about their purchases later on.
Gathering high-quality reviews is vital for your e-commerce brand as you’ll want to make sure that your shoppers find all of the relevant information they need in order to make a purchase. One way to gather these high-quality reviews is by offering your customers incentives through a loyalty program where they can earn and redeem loyalty points towards their future purchases. As your shoppers become more loyal and trusting in your brand, they’ll be more likely to purchase from you again, which may result in higher average order values (AOV). Shoppers may also start to leave those higher-quality reviews with relevant details about your products as well as photos and videos of them using or styling the products.
These combined reviews and loyalty strategies can provide a ton of measurable results for your e-commerce brand. With these tools integrated and working together, your brand can start to see increases in brand trust and referrals as customers share your products with others. And those referrals can lead to a boost in product discovery and CLTV.
How brands are using reviews and loyalty to build retention
Looking for real-life examples? Check out how two brands have implemented these two strategies to boost retention.
One UK-based health and wellness brand had a goal to keep their shoppers engaged while also continuing to collect high-quality reviews. By implementing a strategy where customers can earn loyalty points after leaving product reviews, they saw results that really made an impact on their bottom line. Not only did they see a 600% increase in revenue, but they also saw major boosts to their retention rate as well as CLTV. These results have helped the brand to increase trust and brand loyalty while also optimizing their review collection strategy.
Another business that uses loyalty with reviews together is a health and beauty brand that sells organic and natural products; this brand was able to integrate their retail success with e-commerce strategies. These combined strategies allowed them to create a more unified experience for their customers. The brand already had a rewards program that was established in-store, but by merging their rewards with reviews for in-store purchases, the rates for their review collection soared by 350%. With the increase in reviews, the brand was also able to boost sales and gain more information about their customers as loyalty redeemers have a higher repeat purchase rate at 175%.
The impact of retention on e-commerce businesses
Keeping an eye on customer retention continues to be valuable for e-commerce businesses of all sizes. If your customers aren’t actively engaged and trusting in your brand, they may be more likely to churn — or worse, turn to your competitors to find what they need. Therefore, ensuring that your shoppers are engaged via loyalty programs, and showing that you value their feedback by asking for reviews, will help in building retention, and ultimately, positively impacting CLTV.
A trusted partner like Yotpo offers easy-to-use integrations that allow you to seamlessly collect and display reviews directly to your site and reward your customers with points and other benefits via loyalty programs and referrals. And with everything in one place, it’s easier to keep track of it all. Learn more about building a loyalty program and collecting product reviews by visiting Yotpo.com.