Sales Sieve

If you could actually see the sales funnel for an e-commerce website, it would make a frustrating sight with anywhere between 60 to 80 percent of your income disappearing before it gets anywhere near your bank – in fact it might better be described as a sales sieve.

Some of the holes you can do nothing about – not everyone buys each time they visit but an area where some filler can be applied is right at the base where customers are making purchases.

Of these customers, the majority will be first time buyers who you’ll never see again, but a small number – maybe 5% will become repeat customers and it’s in this area that website owners can make a big difference to their bottom line by working that percentage.

This means rewarding customers for their initial purchase with loyalty incentives to come back and buy again, perhaps through vouchers or a points scheme. Supermarkets tend to be very good at this, offering personalised discounts, incentives and also asking for feedback on the purchase experience.

What they no doubt know, but not everyone is aware of is that once someone has purchased twice, there’s a much higher probability that they’ll go on to make a third and a fourth  purchase and become a loyal customer than there is of a first time customer making a second purchase.

It makes sense then to concentrate your loyalty plan efforts at that key tipping point.

  • The Aardvark Book

    The Aardvark BookFind out more.

News

See all news articles .

Blog

See all blog articles .
Follow us.

Twitter

Google confirmed yesterday that mobile search results rank mobile websites higher in their results..