Your Easter campaigns are done and dusted and it’s time to make the most of the growth you garnered from them.
Whether you ran a giveaway, an Easter egg hunt, or another campaign to add subscribers to your list, now’s the time to start making connections and keep the momentum going.
Competition in the online retail world has exploded in 2021 and, with the past Easter predicted to have the highest spending on record, it’s important to capitalize on potential sales. On top of this, the 30% growth in ecommerce since the start of the pandemic has paved the way for a successful year for online brands.
Here’s how to make the most of your list growth and keep sales on the up now that the spring holiday season is coming to a close.
1. Become Your Customers’ Friend
Consumers today actively seek out brands that have the same values as them. With such fierce competition at play, connecting with your buyers and building deeper relationships with them is the key to more sales.
Research shows that marketing to existing customers is more effective and less costly than attracting new customers, so don’t forget about your best buyers.
Work on delivering them valuable tips and messages that aren’t always sales-driven. Nurturing customers this way will establish long-lasting relationships and ultimately lead to more sales in the long run.
To become your customers’ friend:
One of our lifestlye brands, BlendJet encourages its followers to take part in a vote for their favorite product.
The brand also uses Recart’s Sponsored Message feature to send direct messages to its customers that keep them up-to-date on the latest blog posts and recipes.
Social media posts and sponsored messages help build a community around your brand, boost email sign-ups, and grow your SMS and Messenger lists, giving you an in-road to continue to nurture existing customers. Not to mention that Sponsored Messages have 90% open and 30% engagement rates, so your message won’t be landed in the promotional folder. And you will only pay for opens, as opposed to emails when you also pay for the delivery itself (Sponsored messages have an $0.01 and $0.015 opened-message cost only).
Take another Recart brand, Your Superfoods, for example. They offer their audience useful tips for making delicious meals and direct them to their blog for more advice.
2. Request a Review
Social proof is an integral part of the sales cycle. It instills buyer confidence, leverages that all-important Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), and gives potential customers the information they need to make informed buying decisions.
A whopping 93% of shoppers read reviews before purchasing a product. Without them, you could be missing out on potential customers.
To request a review:
BlendJet nails their customer communication once again by offering those that leave a review the chance to win a $100 gift card. Results?
Gearbunch does a similar thing using the Recart-Loox integration. The integration allows merchants to collect beautiful and honest product reviews complete with customer photos to drive up conversion rates.
3. Post-Purchase Upsells and Cross-Sells
Upselling and cross-selling by offering personalized product recommendations increase your average order value. By suggesting relevant additional or similar products, you can secure your connection with customers and make them feel like you “get” them.
Think about it: if a customer has bought a clock but has forgotten to add batteries to their cart, you can remind them at the checkout stage, in an email after they’ve made a purchase, or via SMS. This will show you care about their experience, which in turn will build trust and cement your relationship.
To leverage post-purchase upsells and cross-sells:
ProFlowers recommends a range of vases that customers can add to their order when they buy a bunch of flowers. For shoppers that don’t have a vase, this is a nice touch (after all, who wants to receive flowers and not have anywhere to put them?).
Recart’s partner SMSBump makes it easy to activate product upsells in automated SMS messages, but you can also use Recart’s Sponsored Messages to promote new arrivals, seasonal offers, best sellers, and gift wrapping:
A Sponsored Message upsell template example that you can grab – send to those who have bought lingerie from you:
The feature allows you to send messages to customers who bought something from you recently (just tap the “Place an order in 30 days” option) so you can target buyers that have only recently made a purchase.
4. Retarget Existing Customers With Sponsored Messages
Spring marks the start of a fresh new season. Take inspiration from the new growth that emerges at this time of year and retarget existing shoppers with fresh new product ideas.
Often, customers will get distracted after they’ve made a purchase or suffer from “shiny object syndrome” when a new brand comes along and sweeps them off their feet. Retargeting jogs the memory of your customers, heightens brand recognition, and expands your reach at the same time.
To retarget customers:
Create Room retargets customers around their birthday.
Providing a birthday discount builds a connection and makes customers feel special. As a result, they’ll keep coming back for more after they’ve claimed their exclusive birthday gift.
Here’s a Spring Sponsored Message template you can use to retarget existing customers with a timely, relevant product bundle:
A low-hanging fruit for health & wellness brands!
Our customers have seen up to 90% open rates on similar promotions, helping their sales absolutely soar. Even better, you only pay when someone opens your message, not when the message is delivered. This creates an open-message cost of between $0.01-$0.015 and drives a 20x average ROAS.
Messenger communication boasts far higher engagement rates than email, too, with a 90% average open rate and 30% engagement rate compared to email’s 10% average open rate and a 2% click-through rate.
5. Don’t Forget Other Spring Ecommerce Events
Easter isn’t the only big date in the spring diary. There are plenty of events to make the most of if you want to connect with customers and sell more.
Making a note of and acknowledging the days that matter to your audience will help establish your brand values and provide you with multiple opportunities to connect and build relationships with them.
To make the most of spring ecommerce events:
Take Your Superfoods as an example. They’re running a giveaway for Earth Day, an event that aligns particularly well with their brand. Not only does this allow them to grow their list, but it helps them reach more consumers with the same values as them (and who are, therefore, more likely to buy from them).
Use Recart’s 2021 Calendar to unlock a complete list of the biggest ecommerce events. Then, share actionable tips that are relevant to the event, use Messenger flows to send out your message, and create timely, personalized offers in advance.
Get More Sales This Spring
Spring is the perfect time to reach new customers and nurture existing ones. Once you’ve kickstarted your list growth with a successful Easter/Spring campaign, you can work on building your relationship with those who bought from you.
Focus on creating valuable content that’s not just promotional to establish an initial connection, and then put strategies like review requests, upselling and cross-selling, and retargeting in place to reach customers at just the right moment.
Don’t forget to make the most of upcoming spring ecommerce events too. These are a great way to reconnect with existing customers and spread your brand message to those who share the same values.
Use Recart’s library of features to help automate the process and build trust and transparency with your best customers.
