If you want to sustainably grow your business, your best bet is to focus on customer retention, not month-over-month sales growth. Earning customer loyalty will not only naturally ramp up your sales over time but it will also bring you other benefits that simply cannot be achieved through a growth-at-all-costs framework.
A 2019 study by KPMG found that 46% of loyal customers stayed loyal even after a negative experience. What's even more striking is that 52% of these loyal customers will still buy from a business they’re attached to, even if they’ve found cheaper and more convenient alternatives. Most importantly, up to 86% of loyal customers can become advocates for their preferred business, bringing in new leads that are easier and cheaper to convert. These benefits ring true in Philippine e-commerce, where the traditional suki system has made a successful transition to the online space.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some retention strategies that will help you earn your online customers’ longtime patronage:
1) Simplify Purchases
You can’t retain customers that you don’t have. Try to offer as seamless a purchase experience as possible by keeping your site and order processes simple.
Most importantly, make sure your customers can have any online payment processed. Since your business is based in the Philippines and your site targets Filipino consumers, get an online payment processing service that processes all locally important digital wallets and virtual payment cards.
In the Philippine market, Maya Business has proven to be the most reliable online payment processing company for e-commerce business of all sizes. With highly rated online payment solutions like Maya Checkout, your website or app can effortlessly facilitate any local electronic payment, creating new generations of loyal customers for your business. Maya plugins can also integrate a third-party payment gateway Shopify and WooCommerce sites can use in just minutes, bringing down the technical barriers needed to add an online payments gateway to your e-commerce operations.
2) Offer Free Delivery
A recent report by TGM Research found that 65% of online shoppers in the Philippines prioritized low prices and free shipping when making purchase decisions. While you can’t always offer prices lower than your competitors, chances are that you can offer free shipping for carts valued over a certain amount, which may encourage customer retention as well as valuable impulse sales. Though offering free shipping does have its costs, it’s often worthwhile for the repeat purchases and customer loyalty it generates.
3) Incentivize Account Creation
Having your potential customers create an account can give you the data and permissions you need to build mutually beneficial online relationships with them. Of course, you need to make things worth their while. Offer your visitors discounts, freebies, and other interesting offers to encourage them to create an account and engage with your business for the long haul.
Just note that not all site visitors will want to create an account, regardless of your incentives. Be sure to offer a guest checkout option with hassle-free online payment processing for these visitors so that they can still purchase from you and become loyal customers in the future.
4) Run an Email Campaign
Emails are an effective way to cross-sell to customers and, in this age of short attention spans, remind them that you exist.
Once a customer makes a purchase or consents to receive your e-mails, send them a confirmation greeting and offer them opportunities to buy products they might like. After that, aim to send regular marketing emails, aiming for at least an email a week. Even if they don’t respond, seeing your email is likely going to increase your mindshare among your customers.
5) Develop a Consistent Social Media Presence
Filipinos are among the heaviest users of social media in the world. Given this, it makes sense to maintain a strong social media presence to better engage with the people who are most interested in your brand. Loyal customers and brand advocates are especially likely to follow your brand and having a consistent social media presence can help maintain and deepen your relationships.
Critically, social media sites can also function as auxiliary sales channels alongside your e-commerce site. Internet payment solutions like Maya Payment Links even let you accept a full range of electronic payments over social media messaging apps, allowing you to directly turn your social media efforts into a vital revenue-generating operation.
6) Improve the Returns Process
Offering an easy returns process can help reassure your customers that you stand by your products and are willing to prioritize their satisfaction. Provide clear instructions on how to return items and make sure your customer service team provides customers with prompt and unambiguous support. If necessary, be prepared to provide refunds in cases where returns may be impractical.
7) Let Empathy Guide Your Customer Service
For service that keeps customers coming back, try to develop a habit of seeing things from different customers’ points of view. By putting yourself in your customers' shoes, you can proactively address looming concerns before they even become a problem. You'll not only be prepared to meet customers’ expectations but also exceed them, cultivating profitable long-term relationships in the process.
Keep Customers Coming Back with Maya Business Online Payment Solutions
Maya Business offers the best online payment processing for customer-centric e-commerce businesses. With solutions like Maya Checkout, Payment Links, and Invoice Payments, you’ll be better equipped to earn and retain your online customers. Create your Maya Business Manager account today to enjoy Maya Checkout and other Maya online payment platforms.
Signing up gives you access to the Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle. Maya 1-2-3 Grow gives you a 1% MDR (merchant discount rate) discount on all QR Ph transactions for 3 months after signing. This discount gives you an extra PHP 14,600 in transaction fee savings for every PHP 1 million in QR Ph sales.
The Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle also lets you access a Maya Business Deposit account for settling transactions. With a generous 2.5% per annum interest rate, you’ll earn PHP 25,000 per year in interest on just a PHP 1 million deposit. You’ll also save extra cash, thanks to Maya Business Deposit’s zero maintaining balance and free transfers via InstaPay and PesoNET.
The Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle also entitles you to a Maya Flexi Loan offer valued up to PHP 2 million in just 3 months. For better loan offers, keep using Maya Business as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments. The more you use Maya Business solutions, the better your loan offer.
Sign up for Maya Business Manager today for seamless online payments, better customer retention, and business growth opportunities like Maya 1-2-3 Grow.
