Once a customer makes a purchase, it now becomes the sellers’ responsibility to retain the customer and ensure they return for future purchases. Customer loyalty is highly regarded in the ecommerce space because it is considered a profitable trait — life-time value consumers will support merchants’ business growth in the long run.
This piece is part of Tamebay’s thematic focus on wooing new shoppers and cultivating customer loyalty. Read our article on Amazon as a search engine: How to leverage product consideration.
1. Ensure an exceptional customer experience from end to end
According to a report by Feedvisor by meeting and exceeding customer expectations, sellers are laying the groundwork for repeat business. Throughout the entire customer experience, sellers need to adhere to Amazon’s recommended best practices.
Merchants need to make sure they accurately describe their products and their condition, getting them to customers as quickly as possible, and responding to customer enquiries in a timely fashion.
2. Be creative in how you approach your product detail pages
Selles should consider integrating images and examples of how to use their product into product listings. Instruction-themed images are a great way to proactively prevent negative reviews and address any potential customer confusion prior to purchase.
Customers want to know how to use or put together the item by looking at sellers’ listing, so turning one of the images into a digestible set of instructions can be beneficial. It is vital to note that this will not work for every product type as some items are extremely technical and have complex instructions for use, such as some electronics.
Merchants can start with short, easy-to-follow bullet points. Demonstrating product uses on a listing helps consumers picture themselves using the product and gives them a reason to buy and keep buying over time.
Also, if a seller is a brand-registered trader or vendor, they can customise their brand shopping experience on Amazon via Amazon Stores, A+ Content, and Enhanced Brand Content.
These creative tools and features allow sellers to incorporate rich multimedia, such as video, comparison text charts, and high-quality images, to promote new products to existing customers, educate prospects, and generate both brand equity and shopper loyalty.
3. Share your values
Sellers can include a callout if their products support causes and values that customers care about and actively seek out, such as fair trade, eco-friendly, or cruelty-free designations.
4. Show that you give back
Merchants can add a link to AmazonSmile in their product description for as many products as they would like.
AmazonSmile donates 0.5% of the price of a customer’s eligible AmazonSmile purchases to a charitable organisation of their choice.
This is a unique, attention-grabbing characteristic, as not every listing offers this option. Having this feature available will enable customers to feel even more confident about their purchase.
5. Respond directly to customer questions and reviews
Amazon encourage sellers to resolve any situations involving negative feedback by looking into the root cause of each negative rating, addressing the shopper’s concern in a timely manner, and making ongoing optimisations to their processes and policies.
By responding directly, sellers are showing their prospective customers that they value their time and experience with their products as well as maintaining a positive overall experience for existing customers.
Amazon also offer eligible manufacturers and vendors the opportunity to post “official comments” on reviews. These comments will be highlighted and permanently displayed next to the corresponding review. The response should answer the customer inquiry or clarify information about the product and will be vetted by Amazon before it is posted.
6. Personalise as much as possible
By integrating product suggestions throughout the buying process, such as “Frequently Bought Together” and “Items Other Customers Buy After Viewing This Item,” Amazon are inserting personalisation and increasing engagement with consumers.
Although sellers can not directly modify the items that show up in these placements, they can put marketing campaigns in place that target cross-selling, upselling, or product bundling, just like these recommendation features do.
It is vital to pay close attention to the performance metrics and account health on an ongoing basis to increase the likelihood of products getting exposure in the personalised placements.
Selles need to avoid late shipments, maintain a low return rate, and encourage positive seller feedback.
When merchants request feedback and reviews, they need to be sure to personalise the note as much as possible, including references to the order information and products a consumer ordered.
By experimenting with product packaging inserts, sellers can encourage positive reviews, illustrate their value proposition, and add another personalised touchpoint between them and their audience.
Lastly, by adapting their content and ad copy to account for high-value language searches, sellers are giving themselves a competitive advantage over the sellers who have not yet optimised their listings for voice search.
Personalisation not only helps drive net new business but it also keeps existing customers coming back to make additional purchases in the future.
