Invariably, B2B eCommerce customer retention strategies are one of the best ways to ensure that your business continues to thrive, and they can be used in several ways. Understanding how valuable these strategies can be, we share proven tactics to help your company retain its customers.
Why is customer retention necessary?
Customer retention is vital for several reasons. First, it reduces customer acquisition costs. If you can retain current customers, you don’t have to spend as much on acquiring new ones. Second, it increases revenue.
The more customers you keep in your funnel, the longer they stay there, and your overall lifetime value will be higher. Thirdly, customer retention also increases customer loyalty because repeat purchases are more accessible if people continue to engage with your business and feel like they understand what’s going on with their relationship with the brand (or company).
How do you calculate customer churn?
To help you understand how to calculate customer churn, we first need to define it. The term “churn” refers to the rate customers are lost from your business. This can happen for many reasons, like if they move away or stop using your product or service, but it can also occur when you lose a customer because they cancel their subscription before its renewal date.
One way to determine how much money is lost due to subscriber churn is by subtracting an account’s average revenue per user (ARPU) from its annual revenue amount and dividing this figure by 12 (the number of months in a year).
If we use this formula with our original example numbers, we’ll get -$5. If a company has 100 subscribers and loses 50 over one year because they canceled during their month-to-month agreements—which would mean they’re paying $10 each month—then it lost $500 in monthly revenue on average during that period alone.
Five proven B2B eCommerce customer retention strategies:
The key to a successful online shopping experience is personalization. Your customers want to feel like they’re being catered to and appreciated, so make sure your website is set up so that it’s easy for them to find what they’re looking for and make their experience on your site more enjoyable.
For example, if you sell products specific to individual industries (like software or business tools), provide product filtering options so customers can quickly narrow their search results by industry type. If you have multiple departments within your company offering different services and product lines (accounting software vs. HR software), provide separate landing pages with unique content and imagery targeted at each audience. This will help ensure that each visitor finds the information they need quickly—and hopefully convert them into paying customers.
Another way of ensuring a great customer experience is through the automation of processes such as checkout and fulfillment. You’ll save time managing orders when everything from payment processing to order management happens automatically through an email campaign sent out after someone makes an order on your website.
This also reduces errors caused by human error during the purchasing process—which means fewer returns/refunds later down the road too.
Personalize the shopping experience
- Personalize the shopping experience. One of the most important ways to engage consumers is by offering them a personalized shopping experience, which means delivering product recommendations relevant to their interests and needs. If you can do this, you’ll increase your chances of winning new customers—and keeping them happy.
- Use data to create a personal shopping experience. To offer an enhanced personalization strategy, retailers need access to their customer’s data to learn more about their preferences and buying habits over time (and across different devices). This information is critical when it comes time to recommend products based on those preferences or make recommendations based on past purchases or actions taken while browsing online stores—like viewing items in a particular category but not purchasing anything yet (called “viewing intent”).
Automate the purchasing process
Automate the purchasing process. Make it easy for customers to purchase by streamlining the checkout process and making it as simple as possible. AI can help you personalize the shopping experience based on a customer’s previous purchases, browsing history, and other data points. You can also use chatbots to answer questions about products or services, eliminating one of the most common reasons people abandon their carts.
Using AI allows you to recommend products likely to appeal to each customer based on their unique preferences, increasing sales conversions and customer satisfaction levels. For example, if someone has purchased multiple items with a similar theme or type (e.g., blue shirts), it would make sense for them to see more relevant items in their future searches—thus increasing your chances of selling more blue shirts.
By combining these two strategies: Automating purchases while leveraging AI insights from past behavior patterns among existing customers (such as buying preferences), retailers can significantly reduce product returns while saving time spent manually keeping track of inventory levels.
Account-based marketing
Account-based marketing is a strategy that focuses on individual customers. It uses data to create personalized experiences for each customer, which can help you retain customers and reach new ones.
Account-based marketing relies on the concept of accounts and their associated contacts. By identifying an account’s size, industry, location, and other details (such as employee count), it’s possible to make customized offers that appeal directly to its needs—whether those are B2B products or services.
For example: If your client base includes many large companies in California with fewer than 1,000 employees each, you might decide to offer discounts on subscription fees if they sign up before the end of June 2022. That way, your company targets only those companies who need something extra from their software—and saves money in the process.
Offer different payment methods.
In the B2B world, you should focus on offering a variety of payment options that are easy to use. Customers want to be able to pay with one click. They don’t want to spend time filling out forms or signing up for accounts. If your eCommerce website is frustrating them, they’re not likely to come back.
One way to make it easier for customers is by creating a seamless checkout process on your eCommerce website. This means providing payment options and making it easy for people who want to buy something from you in person at an event or trade show booth (more on that later).
Build a loyalty program and rewards club
How can you keep them happy now that your customers are coming back and buying more often? One way is to offer a loyalty program or rewards club.
A loyalty program is a series of benefits accrue over time as a customer purchases from your business. Sometimes it’s based on the number of products purchased (points), the amount spent (discounts), and sometimes both. The idea is to incentivize repeat business by offering something in return for loyal behavior.
Companies tend to give out points or discounts, but other incentives include special access to information or events related to your industry, invitations for corporate events like golf outings, or something else.
Loyalty programs are not just about keeping customers buying from you; they’re also good at increasing customer retention rates. In fact, according to CX analytics firm Temando which researched B2B eCommerce customer retention strategies, implementing some loyalty programs increases engagement by 13%, reduces churn by 9%, and boosts revenue per customer by 14%.
Using the right strategies can help your business increase B2B eCommerce sales by retaining more customers.
The importance of customer retention cannot be overstated. It’s a key metric for B2B eCommerce, with companies that retain customers experiencing higher annual revenue.
A recent study by the Aberdeen Group found that high-performing B2B companies outperform low-performing ones in two ways: they have more loyal customers and spend less on acquiring those same customers.
This is why it’s essential to understand how you can increase your B2B eCommerce sales by retaining more customers.
In conclusion
It’s going to be a great year for eCommerce and B2B. We’re excited to see what will happen next, and we hope these strategies have helped you in your journey toward becoming a better online seller.
