Starting up an ecommerce store is exciting!
You’ve got a killer storefront from Shopify, you’ve imported a few products using Oberlo, you’ve even made a few sales, but …
… it’s only a few sales.
When you started your ecommerce store, you expected the sales to come pouring in.
Instead, you’re only bringing in $100-$200 a month.
So, what are you doing wrong?
Or better yet …
What are other stores doing right?
If you’ve managed to get in the SERP’s “Top 3” and your traffic flow is good, then the problem could possibly be “active customer marketing” — or the lack thereof.
What makes Shopify awesome is it has a myriad of plugins to help you not just with marketing, but it even has apps to help you set up shop.
A plugin like Oberlo, for example — a trusted ecommerce solution — can help you with importing products from trusted third-party suppliers into your site in just a few clicks.
That’s just one of the many nifty Shopify plugins you can use.
Today, we’re going to explain how you can automate your active customer marketing efforts and increase your store profits.
Contact Customers Who’ve Abandoned Their Carts
A customer is not “lost” just because they left your store with items still in their carts.
In fact, there are a lot of reasons why they left without hitting the “Buy” button. Some of the reasons include:
- They got distracted from another source such as a phone call, email, children, emergency, etc.
- They decided to look at reviews from another website.
- They wanted to see if they could find a better price.
- You didn’t offer a payment option that they liked/preferred.
And these are just a few of the more common reasons why they might have left without finalizing the sale.
Again, these customers aren’t “lost” – they’re just in limbo.
Your job is to recapture their attention.
How can you do this?
Through plugins like Abandonment Protector. Abandonment Protector is another plugin that works seamlessly with Shopify web stores.
It works by trying to keep your customer from leaving using an exit popup – generally with a discount code/coupon.
If that doesn’t work, the plugin will scan your database to see if any carts were abandoned.
If the plugin finds any abandoned carts, it sends a reminder email to the visitor gently nudging them to complete the sale before inventory runs out.
By running in the background, you maximize your chance to reclaim the “lost” sale.
Use Transactional Emails To Your Advantage
Transactional emails are some of the most underutilized marketing options you have at your disposal.
Underutilized?
All too often, you use these emails to confirm an order, send out a tracking number, and thank the customer for their visit.
But are you maximizing your opportunity to make your active customer a customer for life?
Do you think a customer would respond to this?
Plugins like Recommendify can do this for you automatically both in-store and through transactional emails.
Research has shown that a customer is 5.5x times more likely to buy from a personalized recommendation – are you recommending products to your customers?
What about after the sale?
Would you like 5.5x more sales? More profits?
Get In Touch With Previous Customers
And finally, you need to reconnect with your previous customers.
Too many ecommerce owners focus on getting the sale right now — not in the future too.
But a previous customer has established some sort of trust in your store, so why not exploit that trust – not in a bad way, of course.
Leads can be classified into three levels:
- Cold
- Warm
- Hot
Cold leads have to be convinced to buy from you.
Warm leads are interested in your product and/or service but need a little extra incentive.
Hot leads are interested in your product and/or service, have bought from you in the past, and will probably buy again.
Your previous customers fall into the “hot” category.
Have you ever heard the saying to “strike while the iron is hot?”
That’s because it’s easier to work with iron when it is hot as it can be molded into a specific shape without much resistance.
Your customers are the same way.
You need to work with them while they are hot because that’s when they’re most likely to buy from you.
Run a scan of your previous orders, find any customer that hasn’t bought from you within the past 30 days, and send them an engagement email.
Thank them for their previous order(s) and let them know that you appreciate them – offer them a discount that is good for 10% off.
Most of the time, this is all that is needed to recapture them and get another sale.
Of course, you can find a plugin that works with your Shopify store to handle these re-engagement emails too.
While you could handle this on your own, why would you?
The more you can automate, the more time you’ll have to focus on other aspects of your ecommerce business.
Conclusion
Having an ecommerce site can be a lot of work.
But running a successful ecommerce site can be exciting.
The difference between having an ecommerce site and running a successful ecommerce site is how you engage your customers.
Your customers aren’t going to buy from you just because your website template looks AMAZING.
You’ve got to connect with them from the first impression, during their visit, and even after they’ve left.
Most of our tips focus on the customer after they’ve visited your website.
But we do this because they showed interest in your products, otherwise, they would not have stopped by.
Since you know they are interested … a WARM lead … stay with them.
A warm lead is always easier to engage and convert than a cold lead that has to be convinced that you have what they want.
So, follow the tips and use the products we’ve mentioned to increase your active customer engagement, and you’ll definitely see your store profits increase.
Marketing automation is not difficult, but it can mean the difference between having an ecommerce site and running a successful ecommerce site.
Which type of site do you have?
Are you running a successful ecommerce site or do you just have a really cool looking ecommerce site?
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