How to Increase Repeat Customers

You may focus your attention on attracting new customers, but the truth is repeat customers are extremely valuable to your business.

Sure, customer acquisition strategies can increase your brand awareness and audience size. However, if you aren’t selling an experience that makes your customers come back for more, you’re ignoring a major revenue possibility.

Creating an experience out of purchasing your products is a great way to have your customers return for more shopping. You can create a fantastic experience by selling on Alibaba.com.

In this article, we’ll define repeat customers, why they’re important, and how to keep repeat customers as your business’s biggest fans.

Table of Contents

What are repeat customers?

Simply put, a repeat customer is anyone who buys from your business more than once.

Technically this could mean any customer who has ordered twice; however, those aren’t the customers we’re focusing on today. We’re talking about the loyal customers who consistently and repeatedly shop with you.

If you’re examining customer data, it’s easy to identify your repeat customers. A repeat customer will have the following traits:

They love your products
They love the experience you sell
They love your business or its mission

This is why customer experience is so important in the world of repeat customers.

If you sell a great product but a poor experience, you’ll likely see your repeat customer metrics fall.

There are a few key customer metrics you should be closely watching when it comes to identifying repeat customers: customer lifetime value, customer retention rate, and repeat purchase rate.

If these metrics are performing well, you likely have a lot of repeat customers who love your products and your experience.

repeat customers

Why are repeat customers important to your business?

Repeat customers are very important and super valuable to your business for many reasons. We’ve made a list of the top eight reasons why you should focus on increasing your repeat customers.

Loyalty

Most importantly, repeat customers are loyal to your brand and your products. Targeting your most loyal customers is a great strategy to improve sales and grow your business.

You can count on repeat customers to spend consistently (and at key times), market your brand, and provide better value to your business.

Consistent revenue

Repeat customers have the power to provide your business with consistent revenue. They like your business, they like your products, and they will continue buying from you.

If you sell skincare, for example, your repeat customers will be purchasing from you every time they run out of your products!

Knowing how many repeat customers you have can help you map out financial projections, and inventory management – plus, they keep the cash rolling in.

Increase trust

Repeat customers trust you, which makes them easier to sell to.

If you’re struggling to prove the benefits and worth of your products to new customers, you can understand why repeat customers are so important.

Repeat customers need little to no convincing to place an order. This means with repeat customers, you can spend less time focusing on brand awareness, customer acquisition, and marketing. Instead, you can focus on keeping your repeat customers happy!

Marketing

Repeat customers help your marketing strategy in two ways: content marketing and word-of-mouth marketing.

When you put your attention on repeat customers, you can focus less on content marketing. This is for two reasons.

First, you’ve identified that new customer acquisition is not as profitable as serving repeat customers. And second, repeat customers can do your marketing for you!

When it comes to digital marketing, user-generated content is an entire strategy of its own. Many businesses focus on using their customers to create and share content featuring their products on digital platforms.

You can reach new audiences with zero cost if your repeat customers are doing the marketing for you.

As for word-of-mouth marketing, your loyal repeat customers are eager to share your business with their communities.
You can use them for testimonials, reviews, and talking about your business to anyone who will listen. Their loyalty naturally makes them your biggest cheerleaders.

Greater lifetime value

Repeat customers will always have a greater lifetime value than new customers – because they’re always coming back for more!

Customer lifetime value is a metric that tracks a customer’s total spend with your business over your relationship together¹.

It’s a major metric to track and grow because it has the potential to increase your business’s revenue immensely.

Easier sales

Because repeat customers already trust you and are loyal to you, they’re easier to sell to.

When your selling process is simplified, you have more time to grow other areas of your business.

Selling on Alibaba.com and focusing on repeat customers is an awesome way to improve your selling strategy. Now you can bring in more revenue while improving other areas of your business!

Cheaper acquisition

Repeat customers are cheaper to acquire because they’re already familiar with your brand.

A great example of this is email marketing. Once you get a customer’s email, you can contact them at super low costs, directly in their inbox.

With a direct communication channel and previously established trust with your brand, a repeat customer has a super low cost for you to acquire their business.

How to attract and keep repeat customers?

Winning customers' loyalty and turning them into repeat customers is no easy job.

But if you sell great products and provide a great experience, it will make things significantly easier.

Great customer service

Great customer service is the number one way to grow your repeat customer base.

Customers will only return if they have a positive experience that leaves them satisfied.

Investing in good customer service employees and software is a great way to grow your repeat customer base. It’s important to be helpful and available while your customers are shopping and deciding whether to make a purchase.

With Alibaba.com, there are customer service resources that will help your customers make the important decision to purchase from your business.

Create a great experience

Creating a great and memorable experience for your customers will have them coming back for more.

A great experience begins when a customer first discovers your brand and continues until they receive and use your product.

This is why marketing, customer service, great products, efficient operations, and presentation are all so important for repeat customers.

repeat customers

Improve your offering

For any business to succeed, you need a great offering that excites your customers.

Selling quality products at reasonable prices is an easy way to have a good offering. Providing your customers with plenty of options is another easy way.

You want customers to be excited about your shop and your products. So, having a great offer is an easy way to get customers to repeat their purchasing behavior!

Utilize customer feedback

Another great way to improve your offering and keep repeat customers is by utilizing customer feedback.

That’s why encouraging customers to leave reviews is so valuable! When shoppers take time to review your products and experiences, you should listen.

Make it easy for customers to provide feedback through email marketing, product ratings, customer service ratings, and social media marketing.

Customer loyalty programs

Customer loyalty programs are a great way to attract and keep repeat customers.

Create referral programs and reward programs that offer customers incentives or discounts when they place more orders!

Since repeat customers are easier to sell to and have a cheaper acquisition rate, offering an incentive is feasible. Just make sure the offer is valuable to both your business and your customers!

Have a great mission

In today’s times, having a great mission is an awesome way to keep your customers repeating their purchases.

Many businesses opt to stand for social justice issues and advertise these to their audiences. That’s because many shoppers look to spend their money at meaningful businesses that help them make a difference.

There are many different missions you can associate your business with: animal welfare, environmental change, body positivity, diversity, and inclusion, to name a few.

Standing for something makes your business more appealing to customers who agree with your mission.

Sell on Alibaba.com

If you want to make it easier to sell to your repeat customers, you’re in the right place.

Alibaba.com is an online B2B marketplace that has over 40 million active buyers who make more than 400,000 inquiries daily from over 200 countries and regions. That’s a lot of potential buyers that are searching for items you sell!

Opening a seller account on Alibaba.com is easy, and there are many benefits. Alibaba.com has many helpful resources, such as blog posts and learning centers for business owners.

There are also valuable insights, advanced reporting, and professional services which can all help you improve your customer experience and report on customer behavior.

Getting started on Alibaba.com is as easy as five simple steps: