It has become apparent that forced registration at checkout is a conversion killer yet customers are demanding more personalized shopping experiences. By personalizing the shopping experience, customers are more likely to purchase from you again. New customer acquisition costs retailers 7x more than retaining existing customers. Marketing experts suggest retailers personalize campaigns and site pages to existing customers based on past purchases to increase customer lifetime value. So how do you boost customer loyalty when customers are hesitant to provide their information and prefer to checkout as guests but want personalized experiences?
The Benefits of Data
Forced registration allows retailers to build strong customer relationships by being able to provide better service as the customer leaves a purchase path with detailed information. Your ecommerce team can access order history, track orders and provide special offers based on the customers account. A personalized experience leads to increased customer loyalty.
Customers that purchase from retailers are more likely to purchase again for 3 reasons:
- Less anxiety/friction with a repeat purchase
- Information is already there
- Know that you can be trusted with their information
Only 8% of customers to a retail store are repeat buyers but they are responsible for 41% of retailer’s revenues. Being a solution to common online shopping problems such as inconvenient and timely checkouts, non-mobile friendly stores, not offering preferred payment options and customized customer experiences is one way to gain competitive advantage and customer loyalty.
Customize Your Cart
Smart content generators are one option to customize your cart to your customers needs. Within your customers cart, smart content generators can suggest products that are based off of what they have already selected. This can help customize the experience and make it easier to find products in your store that are similar to their preferences.
Be the Most Convenient Option
Streamline your checkout process so that your customer can purchase quickly and efficiently. Simple and easy to use checkouts will bring customers back to your store as they can checkout faster than other sites.
Reduce barriers that slow down the purchase process such as:
- Extra steps
- Forced registration
- Numerous information fields
- Delayed access
Optimize your checkout by only including essential fields that auto-populate from prior checkouts. Dynamic websites have the ability to populate fields based on previous visits.
Optimize for Mobile Commerce
Online shoppers are demanding an inclusive and personalized shopping experience. The transition from your ecommerce to mcommerce store and checkout need to be cohesive to reduce customers purchase anxiety. Mobile is a convenient option to offer customers to keep them happy and loyal. With the Millennial generation demanding more mobile compatible checkouts and sites, retailers that fall behind on this trend may lose loyal or potential repeat customers.
Provide Multiple Payment Options
Over 43% of consumers state that the availability of multiple payment options has a positive impact on their satisfaction with the shopping experience. Retailers should provide a variety of payment options as customers may be more inclined to abandon their cart or choose a different retailer that provides the option if you don’t offer it.
Payment alternatives allow retailers to have access to their customer’s detailed information while also quickening the process. Customers can save their information on the initial signup making future payments simple and faster. You can then better customize the experience for the customer as you have the information and purchase path to do so.
One-size fits all marketing campaigns are quickly being replaced with personalized marketing campaigns to encourage customer loyalty. But with more customers preferring to checkout as guests, it’s making it harder for retailers to obtain the data to customize the experience. By optimizing your checkout, retailers can make their store the preferred option and increase repeat buyers and customer loyalty.