Are ecommerce customer retention strategies improving?

New stats suggest that retailers are improving their customer retention rates, so is this the result of a focus on the customer experience?  IMRG stats found that ‘the active customer retention rate’ reached a record high of 36.4% for May to July 2016 (Q2), 5% higher than the same period in 2015. The report also […]

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September 01, 2016 Categories

New stats suggest that retailers are improving their customer retention rates, so is this the result of a focus on the customer experience

IMRG stats found that ‘the active customer retention rate’ reached a record high of 36.4% for May to July 2016 (Q2), 5% higher than the same period in 2015.

The report also found that the average price per item sold reached its lowest in three years in Q2, which suggests plenty of discounting, a result of Amazon’s Prime Day perhaps.

The increased retention rates should be heartening for retailers though, and suggests that many are pursuing a more effective long-term strategy. There has been a tendency to focus on acquisition at the expense of retention, but the former is generally more cost-effective.

For example, here’s a selection on stats on retention:

What influences customer retention rates?

There are a number of reasons, many of which centre around the all round customer experience, from on-site usability and ease of buying, to delivery performance and customer service.

Here are some of the key factors:

The IMRG stats are encouraging. We’ll see how the trend continues when the next update is released, but a focus on retention through improving customer experience is the way forward.

For more information on ecommerce, see our Ecommerce Checkout Best Practice Guide. For more reports, including guides on mobile commerce, customer experience, and social customer service, head to ClickZ Intelligence

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