Syed Balkhi April 9, 2021 When business leaders and marketers think about maximizing profits, they generally think of converting new leads into customers. While it’s true that lead generation and conversions play a prominent role in your growth, it’s far from the only factor.
You should also think about marketing actions that will lead to more existing customers engaging with your site. Repeat customers tend to have a higher average order value, and they are also more likely to approach your company with built-in trust. It’s easy to see why maximizing the profits of your existing traffic is a good idea, but do you know how to get started?
If not, you’re in luck. Today, we will look at several strategies you can use to increase sales with customers who have already engaged with your site.
Let’s begin!
Cross-Sell Relevant Products at Checkout
One of the best ways to boost your profits is to cross-sell other products when a customer checks out. You’ve likely experienced this marketing strategy in the past, even if you didn’t realize it. If you want to see how cross-selling works in action, visit Amazon and browse the first product that pops up.
At the bottom of the page, you’ll see a box that contains other items that people purchased with the existing product you’re viewing. This is cross-promotion in action. You likely won’t have an artificial intelligence program monitoring your sales and making suggestions right away like Amazon, but you can static pages for visitors that serve the same purpose.
For example, if you sell sports equipment, you can naturally cross-sell relevant gear. You’re much more likely to sell a jersey and mouthpiece combo to a visitor who is actively ready to purchase a football. However, if you try to cross-sell a baseball bat when a user buys a football, there’s a slim chance that they will accept the offer.
We suggest you cross-sell similar products and measure the results. You’ll start to see combinations that result in an increased average order value. If you fine-tune this strategy, you can easily maximize your profits from existing traffic.
Create Retargeting Campaigns
Next, let’s talk about shopping cart abandonment. Abandonment occurs when a user adds products to their shopping cart but leaves your site before completing their order.
Research shows that, on average, up to 70% of consumers will leave your checkout page before clicking the “Buy” button. You’re not going to turn all of these people into customers, but there are several ways you can bring them back to your site to complete their order.
Email retargeting campaigns are an excellent way to encourage people to come back to your site. We like to send out 3 abandonment emails to each user over one week after they’ve exited their shopping cart.
In our experience, mobile optimization of your emails is key to success. A whopping 68% of emails are opened on mobile devices. In other words, you could have the best retargeting campaign imaginable, but it won’t matter if it doesn’t look nice on smartphones and tablets.
You can also use retargeting ads on social media websites. When you consider that the average person has 8 social accounts, it’s easy to see why this strategy works. The best way to reach users who abandon their shopping carts is to send them personalized messages on platforms where they spend their time.
We’ve found that emphasizing our value proposition and including a special offer led to more of our existing traffic coming back to complete their order.
Offer a Premium Subscription Service
Content and product subscription services are another excellent way to maximize your profits. Consumers generally like to plan ahead and stock up on products and plans when they have the option. Now that you know what users think, consider this; 72% of business owners report that subscriptions helped them improve customer retention and relations.
It’s clear that subscription services are the way to go. There are several paths you can take depending on your industry.
If you’re selling physical products, you could allow users to buy “repeat orders” for a lower price. For instance, you could let users buy up to 6 months of your products at once with a consistent monthly shipping date. While you may lose some profits at the point of sale, the number of people willing to pay for this kind of convenience will quickly offset the losses.
As for SaaS businesses, you could offer a subscription service for your software. Allow users to buy an annual or lifetime license, and you will see more sales from your existing traffic. Consumers don’t like to be bothered with monthly reminders that they need to pay bills. Enabling memberships and subscriptions makes it easy to turn visitors into long-term customers.
Start a Loyalty Program
Customer loyalty programs can help you drastically improve profits with your existing traffic. Essentially, loyalty programs should reward customers for engaging with your brand.
There are several different types of loyalty programs, so you can use what works best for you. The most common type is a point-based system. In other words, users get points or cashback for completing orders on your website.
When the customer is ready to make a purchase in the future, they can redeem their points towards the cost. Again, this is a strategy that seems like it would result in losses instead of gains. However, customers are likely to spend more money when they have extra store credit.
Imagine if a user bought their usual purchase, then applied some of their credit to a product that piqued their curiosity. Now, they are spending extra to get the new product. If your value proposition is worthwhile and you have a robust loyalty program, you can expect new users to spend more on future orders.
Invest in Shareable Content
Finally, let’s talk about the value of creating shareable content. Users expect more than a simple shopping experience from brands. Now, customers want long-term experiences that extend well beyond their purchase.
The best way to deliver on this need is to create engaging content. Your existing customers will gladly check out your latest content if it resonates with one of their pain points or helps them reach a goal.
There are plenty of ways to deliver new content to users. We’ve started using videos to get more engagement across all of our brands. Our reason for the switch was the discovery that 43% of consumers want to watch more videos.
Not only are videos a good option for your website, but you’ll also excel on social media. You may be surprised to learn that 20% of Instagram users visit a business profile every day. If you’re sharing new videos, you’re giving existing customers a reason to come back to your website from social media.
You can also use this opportunity to announce flash sales, which will lead to more impulse purchases. We know this is the case because 60% of consumers report buying a product due to fear of missing out (FOMO).
When we publish shareable content, we know that our audience will read what we have to say or listen to one of our videos. If they like the message, they are likely to share the post and bring in new visitors while still engaging with our brands.
Back to You
There you have it! We’ve covered 5 strategies you can start using today to maximize profits with your existing audience. We think it’s important to put these tactics in place with a solid lead generation strategy. As your business grows, you want to maximize the average order value of each customer. If you put these techniques into practice, you’ll begin to see a steady rise in sales, engagement, and customer retention.
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