A study by Marketing Metrics found the average company has a 60-70% probability of selling again to existing customers, a 20-40% probability of selling to past customers - but only a 5-20% chance of selling to a prospect.
Yet, our marketing budget and sales efforts are dedicated almost exclusively to acquiring new customers...
This is a great opportunity for business owners to understand the importance of customer acquisition and finally plan their sales strategy more efficiently.
In fact, there are several methods to increase your sales, but in my opinion only one or maybe two strategies can effectively work in your particular niche.
Today, I want to:
1) Discuss the top 15 customer acquisition techniques
2) Use formulas and data to evaluate which strategy is more appropriate to your unique ecommerce business
3) Create action plans to improve your website sales
Learn how to master Ecommerce Customer Acquisition in order to expect an immediate growth in sales.
4. 5 Customer Types by Likelihood of Selling
15 Sales Generation Techniques
1. Existing Customer
2. Lapsed Customer
3. Referred Customer
4. Prospective Customer
5. Lost Customer
60-70%
20-40%
…20-70%?
5-20%
0-15%
5. Know the Numbers
15 Sales Generation Techniques
60-70% probability of selling again to existing
customers*
20-40%: selling to lapsed customers*
only 5-20%: selling to a prospect*
63% of marketers: new customer acquisition
is their top goal**
*Marketing Metrics **Get Satisfaction
9. Likelihood of Selling – what next?
15 Sales Generation Techniques
3 to 6 times easier selling to Existing
Customers than prospective customers
Reconnecting with Lapsed Customers could
increase your sales by __%
Referrals and word of mouth could even
double your business
Lost Customers are worth following up with
10. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
15 Online Sales Strategies
Existing
Lapsed
Referral
Prospect
Lost
14. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“In 2006 alone, Amazon has reported that 35% of its
revenues can be attributed to their cross-selling and
upselling efforts”
WHAT: more expensive package / product
SO WHAT: identify buying patterns / opportunities
WHAT NOW: choose a product you can upgrade.
Upselling is provided by your ecommerce SW
1. Upselling / Upgrading
17. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
Cross-sell Examples:
• Ryanair add-ons
• Life Insurance + car or health insurance
• A mobile phone + a network
• A laptop + mouse and insurance
18. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“In the 70s, McDonald’s realized that their most
popular item was not being ordered by 200
customers per day, per store. After “Would you like
fries with that?” 50% of the customers bought fries =
$21,840 per restaurant per year”
WHAT: additional / complementary product
SO WHAT: identify best sellers / buying trends
WHAT NOW: choose a product you can cross-sell.
Already provided by your ecommerce SW
2. Cross-selling
20. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
Loyalty Examples:
• Benefits: Amazon Prime
users get free 2-day
shipping + other benefits.
• Recycling: return 6 MAC
Cosmetics packaging
containers, get free
lipstick
• Starbucks Rewards Card
No Loyalty Program…
21. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“54% of respondents would consider increasing the
amount of business they do with a company for a
loyalty reward, and 46 % said they already have.
(ClickFox)”
WHAT: loyalty program to increase return sales
SO WHAT: identify easy formula
WHAT NOW: find your unique program. Look for
plugin compatible with your ecommerce SW
3. VIP / Rewards / Loyalty Programs
23. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“Unboxed was introduced with the intention of
bridging the gap between the store and online. If a
customer is unable to visit a store, they can log on
and enter the product code or a postcode to view the
product in a home.”
WHAT: customers proof of purchase, story
SO WHAT: identify social trends and shareability
WHAT NOW: assess feasibility of project, keep it
simple. Could just embed FB/TW posts!
4. Social Engagement
25. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“I got a letter from Kate Spade thanking me and
saying that they were sure my mom would like the
gift. How did they know? Who helped me must have
tagged my purchase order so that they could
personalize their marketing to me (Mosaone)”
WHAT: customers are special, emails should be too
SO WHAT: identify customer needs & segments
WHAT NOW: test a personal purchase email. Use
Mailchimp or other email segmentation SW
5. Email exclusivity
26. 6. Subscription
15 Sales Generation Techniques
“I got an email from Netflix the other day saying they could not
process the payment via PayPal (I changed the password). I
completely forgot I even had a subscription with them – I just
enjoyed the ongoing service.”
WHAT: customers repeat purchase and payment
SO WHAT: identify repeat best-sellers
WHAT NOW: implement subscription model. Many
ecommerce SWs already provide this option; PayPal
and Stripe support recurring payments
30. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
Reconnecting with Lapsed customers might cost you
next to nothing. Not bad for a customer that is 20-
40% likely to purchase again from you.
WHAT: lapsed customers have not purchased in __
months. They’re worth following up with
SO WHAT: define & identify lapsed customers
WHAT NOW: choose one media channel and test
your campaign. Repeat!
7. Reminder campaign
35. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
WHAT: advertise to website visitors on other
platforms, depending on the action they took
SO WHAT: identify website or user weaknesses (cart
abandonment, price-based decisions, etc.)
WHAT NOW: use Google AdWords or Facebook Ads
to create a retargeting audience; test a campaign
8. Retargeting / Remarketing
36. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
9. Seasonal Offers
“Thanksgiving,
Black Friday US
2014 Sales
Break $1B
(comScore)”
“Christmas
Online sales
grew by 8.3
percent over
2013 (IBM)”
37. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
Seasonal Offers help bring lapsed customers back to
your website on a more regular basis.
WHAT: capitalize on opportunities for seasonal
promotions, sales or special events
SO WHAT: develop an annual plan to map out your
marketing strategy for the year
WHAT NOW: run a seasonal campaign this month
9. Seasonal Offers
39. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“The passing of information between a non-
commercial communicator (i.e. someone who is not
rewarded) and a receiver concerning a brand, a
product, or a service (Wikipedia)”
WHAT: 50% of our daily conversations involve
shopping (Ana Magazine)
SO WHAT: be great at customer service & story
WHAT NOW: what can you improve in your business
to increase word of mouth?
10. Word of Mouth
41. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“Performance-based marketing in which a business
rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or
customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing
efforts (Wikipedia)”
WHAT: pay for free customer acquisition
SO WHAT: calculate margins, define pay
WHAT NOW: assess feasibility, find plugin / vendor
11. Affiliate scheme
43. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“Promoting products or services to new customers through
referrals, usually word of mouth. Such referrals often happen
spontaneously but businesses can influence this through
appropriate strategies (Wikipedia)”
WHAT: non pushy referral – everybody wins
SO WHAT: calculate your margin and offer benefit to
referrer and referral
WHAT NOW: coupon ecommerce plugin
12. Referral Marketing
45. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“More than 50% of U.S. offline retail sales will be
influenced by the web by 2017. That’s $1.8tn in store
sales influenced by online (Forrester )”
“Search began almost 44% of all US ecommerce
transactions in Q1 2014 (Custora)”
WHAT: ranking website organically
SO WHAT: analyse competition and keywords
WHAT NOW: content marketing plan
13. SEO
46. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
Measurable, targeted and fast method to reach page
1 of Google. Sometimes, cost-effective as well!
WHAT: ranking website by paying Google (Facebook
as well, but it works better for lead capture vs sales)
SO WHAT: calculate your margins and PPC; ROI
WHAT NOW: be careful and test a lot. PPC is getting
more expensive, and retail is the toughest industry
14. Online Advertising
48. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“3 in 5 Americans (59%) would try a new brand or
company for a better service experience (American
Express Survey, 2011)”
WHAT: they’re not lost forever
SO WHAT: you have their phone no.
WHAT NOW: give them a call!
15. Reach out
50. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
“Marketers tend to assess their campaigns based on
a single purchase. However, that new customer is
likely to buy again __ times for the next __ years”
LTV vs single purchase
1 purchase = $5
approx. LTV = $15,000
advertising budget = ?
52. 15 Sales Generation Techniques
CAC
𝑪𝑨𝑪 =
𝑴𝑪𝑪 + 𝑾 + 𝑺 + 𝑷𝑺 + 𝑶
𝑪𝑨
MCC = Campaign costs
W = Wages
S = Cost of software
PS = Prof. services
O = Other overheads
CA = Total customers
Example: MCC = €500; W = €0; S = €0; PS = €500; O =
€0; CA = 10
CAC = (€500 + €500) / 10 = €100= €600
53. 1. Together with investing on new customer
acquisition, focus on customer retention,
referrals and win-back campaigns
2. Pick your best 3 and assess CAC. Compare to
LTV
3. Choose “THE ONE” and implement it for the next
30 days
Rodolfo Melogli
15 Sales Strategies