Churn – customer’s life cycle in e‑commerce

Maintaining relationships with clients is a complex process. Remember that they make purchasing decisions not only on the basis of prices and the quality of products. Clients’ contact with the brand builds certain experiences in their mind that affect behaviour throughout the entire shopping cycle. How can you support this process and prevent customer migration?

Customer’s life cycle in the online store

Users who reach your online store can be at various stages of the shopping journey. Your task, as the owner of e-commerce, is to take the role of a guide. You must accompany your customers during shopping and help them make purchasing decisions.

How can you do this? Collect data on your clients’ behavior, adapt offers to their individual needs, use segmentation to implement an effective anti-churn strategy at every stage of the customer’s life cycle.

What are the best anti-churn tactics in e-commerce?

1. Building awareness: potential customers contact your brand for the first time. They create an account in the online store, subscribe to the newsletter, but do not take the next step. Do you know that if you do not activate them within 7 days, then the chance that they will become your clients falls practically to zero? Take advantage of the potential of remarketing and direct them to a personalised offer with a discount on their first purchase.
2. Conversion: if your previous activities have built up positive experiences in the awareness of your potential customers, it’s very likely that they will make purchases in your e-store. Remember, however, that many customers don’t return to the store once again. How to keep them coming back? Take advantage of the potential of cross-selling and up-selling. Offer them complementary and additional products. Create in their consciousness the need they will want to satisfy.
3. Retention: making a purchase is not the last stage of customers’ lifecycle in e-commerce. It is very important to keep their attention. Segment customer bases according to RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) criteria. Thanks to this, you will ideally estimate the risk of their leaving and send them advertising messages encouraging to repeat purchase in your online store.
4. Reactivation: in your customer base, you will surely find clients who didn’t take any interaction with your brand for a long period of time. You know, however, their purchase history, you have contact details. Use this information to reactivate it. Prepare contextual promotional campaigns, present an offer of complementary and additional products.

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