subject: How To Get Customers To Make Repeat Purchases On Ebay [print this page] How To Get Customers To Make Repeat Purchases On Ebay
The first big lesson every salesman learns is that it is much easier to get repeat sales rather than try and win over new customers. Studies have backed this up going as far as to say that trying to find new customers can be up to 10 times more expensive if one were to work in the communication and engagement costs. Apart from this, the `life time customer value' concept also points towards the immense value that can be reaped in profits by being able to keep a customer loyal, happy and buying from you. Difficult as this is, in the real world, in multi shop and multi brand marts like eBay, this is nothing but a huge challenge. However, there are things that sellers can do to actively promote repeat customer purchase on eBay. Let's look at some of them: 1. Offer discount coupons for next purchase: An old trick, it still works every time. Whenever people buy from your store, try and offer some kind of discount or price off scheme that ensures that they try and purchase again from you. A simple 10% discount card on the next purchase with a "valid till date" should work well. The time limit should be enough for the customer to need the product again and not long enough to let them try out a competitor's product. People always want a discount and will prefer to utilize the price off rather than shopping elsewhere. 2. Membership card / benefits: It may be a good idea to offer customers buying above a certain amount, some sort of loyalty card that entitles them to more. Offering free shipping, price offs and express deliveries are just some of the many ways you can try and treat your loyal customers better. Having experienced this `special treatment' at your store, they will be more reluctant to try out a new shop. Airlines and hotels have been using this concept successfully for years. 3. Regular Engagement: It is impossible to expect that you will be able to offer a 100% customer experience each time. Parcels will get delayed; items may be damaged on transit and so forth. Research shows that most customers are willing to try again provided there is a genuine attempt at service recovery. You should also try and keep your regulars informed about news listings, preview of the better bargains and offer general information that will be of use to them. Adding links to this kind of communication / newsletters increases the chances of a click through. Fortunately, search engines like eBay actually promote repeat purchase by giving higher ranking to stores that are already present in a customer's history. You should make sure that you are doing everything that you can to leverage this advantage to the fullest. Ensuring repeat sales from customers can go a long way in better word of mouth and better new customer recruitment as well.
