We've covered how effective retention marketing strategies are at:

Today I want to go over how to construct a complete customer retention strategy for your eCommerce store.

To do so, we are first going to break down how a hugely successful cosmetics company retains customers. Then we’ll look at some specific strategies and tactics to increase your customer retention rate.

Let’s begin!

The cornerstone of a successful retention strategy is the customer.

Customers want great products. They want excellent customer service. They want convenience. Increasingly, customers want a personalized shopping experience.

The challenge for eCommerce stores is adapting new technology fast enough to meet these expectations.

Before you design your own customer retention programs, it is important to understand the most important factors that contribute to repeat purchases.

Product value is the primary driver for customer retention.

If a customer is dissatisfied with their purchase they are unlikely to come back. But even beyond that simple statement, it turns out product value creates loyalty. 

While the "how-to" of sourcing and creating great products is beyond the scope of this article, nothing else here will work without getting it right.

If you want to create an effective customer retention strategy, it starts with understanding what your customers value and providing a product that matches that.

Chances are you serve multiple customer segments.

Not every item you have will be interesting to all site visitors. And the truth is… customers don’t want to look through countless uninteresting items before finding what they are looking for.

After product value, personalization is the next important factor in a customer retention strategy. 

Customers want personal offers - products that are relevant to them. They want products they care about.

Independent customer surveys point to customers increasing demand for personalization. 

Today there are so many options for eCommerce stores to successfully create personalized customer experiences.

Personalized product recommendations, dynamic content, tailored rewards, triggered emails, are just a few of the possible customer retention tactics.

Regardless of your mix, these tactics depend on effective eCommerce behavioral segmentation. 

Above, Drunk Elephant uses a content personalization tactic of showing free shipping with a price hurdle to specific segments. 

During research for this article, I came across an in-depth review on customer loyalty programs by Deloitte. 

I found the results of their study telling. 

It's obvious that customer loyalty depends on more than just financial incentives. 

It is part brand. It is part experience. Above all, it is a big dose of relationship through consistent communication, influenced by understanding who the customer is. 

Honestly, it is difficult to talk about it without a detailed case study. Which is why I chose to break down a company whose business model depends on loyal customers, repeat business, and customer retention: e.l.f. Cosmetics.

I want to illustrate a developed customer retention strategy by breaking down e.l.f. Cosmetics. 

e.l.f. Cosmetics generated over 265MM last year. Their core offerings are trend-inspired products across "eyes, lips, and face and tools...". 

Modeled after fast-fashion brands, e.l.f. creates value by creating trend products at significantly lower prices. However, this type of strategy demands high customer retention to work. 

Mistakes will happen. 

Successful e-Commerce stores address mistakes head-on, and use customer service as an opportunity to maximize future sales. 

As the study above showed, 41% say directly that having great customer service is necessary for brand loyalty. 

Double sided referrals are increasingly popular.

However, few execute this retention tactic better than e.l.f.

e.l.f. takes advantage of timing to maximize their standard referral bonuses. 

Understanding that recent purchases are a key leading indicator for future purchases, they embed their referral incentive in the very first transactional email they send.

In e.l.f.'s case, they are incentivizing joining their loyalty program, "Beauty Squad", not a single transaction.

They also create various types of incentives. You get $5 off. You get free shipping. 50 points are added to your account - ANDY you get the option for a free full size item. 

This layering of incentives is a common theme in e.l.f.'s customer retention strategy.

How do you handle late shipping times?

e.l.f. recognizes when a shipment is delayed. And they don't pull any punches in their response. 

Here is a screenshot of the email they send out. 

Notice how they take a bad experience and use it to ensure a repeat  purchase. 

They apologize. They recognize me as a first-time customer, and stand by the value they create in generally on-time deliveries. 

And then, they incentivize a repeat purchase with both a $10 coupon code AND free shipping.

All of this is done without complaint from the customer. Instead, it is triggered when there is a delay in shipping. 

This is key. 

Customer's don't always voice their displeasure. Taking initiative is key to customer retention.

Loyalty programs should focus on lifetime value, and hedge against rewarding transactional behavior.

e.l.f.'s loyalty program is a fantastic example. It uses a number a tactics, including:

Scarcity is a popular tactic since Cialdini brought it everyone's attention. 

I see a lot of e-Commerce stores using scarcity in the form of expiring offers to urge customers to buy. However, it is rare that this tactic is paired with dramatic enough offers to inspire action. 

e.l.f. doesn't hold any punches. 

It offers a giant 50% off. 

And, with such a compelling offer, they are able to impose a $30 hurdle to help manage costs. 

Of course, they also wait until the last minute to tell clients about it to maximize effectiveness. 

Price discounts are not the only tactic e.l.f. employs.

Every month, they give customers a chance to earn a new free gift. These gifts help protect margins, preserve customer's perception of value, and perhaps most importantly, exposes them to new product categories. 

I love how e.l.f. communicates to their audience, validating them while simultaneously celebrating the benefit of the offer.

Managing lifeime value with high rewards is  a key ability in e.l.f.'s customer retention program.

This is one of my favorite examples. 

Instead of diluting their offer to make the numbers work, they add a few hurdles. 

First, the customer has to have over 100 points to unlock the reward. 

Second, they need to order again. And third, the order must be $10 or more to use it. 

This approach aligns the customer's objective with e.l.f.'s.

These retention tactics drive financial results.  In e.l.f.'s case, 

Barilliance partners with hundreds of e-Commerce and omnichannel stores. 

We enable a complete, 360 degree view of each customer - including what products they've clicked on, which ones they've added to their cart, what emails they open and past purchases. 

We enable our partners to use this data to create personalized customer experiences and relevant, inspiring offers. 

If you'd like to learn how we can help you multiply your customer retention rate, request a demo here.