CPG brands are operating in an environment that is continuously evolving but where margins are generally low. This, combined with the fierce level of competition in the industry, heightens the need for brands to be very strategic in their approach to gain a competitive advantage.
By using a dedicated e-commerce platform like Shopify as opposed to fully committing to selling your products on a marketplace such as Amazon, CPG brands can separate themselves from the competition through the ability to develop and nurture much stronger customer relations.
A few effective methods for nurturing your customer relationships are listed below.
Customer Retention Campaigns
One of the best ways to drive loyalty is through customer retention campaigns. Loyal customers typically have a higher average order value (AOV) and better lifetime value (LTV) than one-time shoppers. In addition to this, they also act as the most effective brand advocates by actively and genuinely promoting your brand to their network.
CPG brands can achieve optimal results by implementing some of the customer retention tactics below through their own website.
Highlighting brand values – By promoting brand values that resonate with target audiences, companies can demonstrate their authenticity, which is key to building strong relationships.
Using loyalty programs – Incentivizing customers with valuable rewards is a great way to increase engagement and convince customers to make repeat orders, rather than seeking out your competitors.
Dedicated Customer Service
When you sell on Amazon, anyone who purchases your products on the platform is essentially an Amazon customer and not your direct customer. This type of setup is a huge obstacle to overcome for brands that want to build long-term customer relationships.
Selling directly through your website is the best way to provide the best possible customer service. The customers are yours and your brand can leverage a range of digital marketing tactics to further develop the relationship and establish loyalty.
In addition to full ownership of the customer relationship, selling directly on their website gives brands access to more comprehensive data than Amazon analytics can provide. This invaluable information enables companies to make informed decisions about how to better serve their customers with the ultimate goal of improving sales performance.
Seamless Communication Before, During, and After purchase
Seamless communication is an extension of customer service. By selling products directly through their website, merchants are in a much stronger position to comprehensively educate customers on all the features and benefits that the respective products deliver.
On Amazon, brands are limited by character counts and the way information is presented, which makes it difficult to truly bring products to life for maximum impact with the target audience. When it comes to platforms like Shopify, however, the options for exhibiting products and delivering any accompanying information are limitless.
The way in which today’s shopper researches, becomes inspired and makes a purchase decision is vastly different from what it was before. It means the extra flexibility that brands have to market products through their own channels does wonders for on-site conversions.
Brands also have the ability to communicate with customers before they make a purchase, while they’re in the process of buying, and after they’ve become a paying customer. At each of these stages, there are numerous ways that companies can nurture the relationship to further boost sales.
Communicating with Customers Before They Purchase
Newsletters – Newsletters are an excellent way to keep your brand top of mind by delivering information on things like the latest offers and upcoming releases with minimal effort and low cost thanks to automation.
On-site messaging – Having a standalone website enables brands to tell their unique story to enhance their standing in the market. Powerful visual content in the form of images and video can also be used to ignite stronger connections that nudge customers towards desired outcomes.
Communicating with customers during the purchasing process
Upselling and cross-selling – Due to the greater control over customer relationships on branded sites as opposed to Amazon, upselling and cross-selling to increase the average sales value of the customer is much easier. Not only do these tactics lead to a higher CLV (customer lifetime value), they also strengthen relations by helping customers ‘win’ with upgrades, add-ons, and other helpful extras that genuinely deliver better overall value.
Subscriptions – Brands can implement a strategy that drives subscriptions on their own websites but this isn’t possible on Amazon. Different discounts can be used to encourage people to subscribe, which then streamlines the process of turning them into lifetime customers.
Communicating with Customers After They’ve Made a Purchase
Email campaigns – Post-sale communication is critical for increasing repeat purchases. Since brands are 60% - 70% likely to sell to an existing customer compared to the 5% - 20% chances of selling to a new one, it is a good idea to use personalized messaging through email campaigns to nurture sustainable customer relationships.
Remarketing – This is one of the most effective ways of improving the relevancy of ads by targeting people that have already shown an interest in certain products. Through more accurate segmentation as a result of remarketing, brands can improve conversions and maximize ROI.
Building Strong Customer Relationships is the Key to Long-Term Success
These are just a few benefits that CPG brands can take advantage of when they leverage the power of e-commerce platforms like Shopify rather than focussing most of their efforts on third-party sites like Amazon. By taking ownership of the customer relationship, your company can incorporate customer retention campaigns, offer dedicated customer support and maintain seamless communication before, during and after purchases.
Nurturing customer relationships in this way results in stronger connections with target audiences and fosters brand loyalty to set your business up for long-term, sustainable success.