You likely track specific, measurable revenue metrics for your ecommerce business — sales totals and average order value, for example. Revenue metrics are important, of course, but adding in some customer retention metrics gives you a well-rounded look at your business success and overall customer satisfaction.
There are many ways to measure how successfully your business attracts and retains customers, including these popular customer retention metrics:
- Customer retention rate (CRR) measures the percentage of existing customers who remain customers after a given timeframe.
- Repeat purchase rate (RPR) measures the proportion of customers who have made at least two purchases at your store during a given timeframe.
- Customer churn rate measures the rate at which customers stop doing business with your brand.
- Net promoter score is an index that measures customer loyalty and willingness to recommend a brand’s products or services to others.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates how much a customer will spend over the entire duration of their relationship with you. Learn more about customer lifetime value.
There are many options, so choose the customer retention metrics that make the most sense for your business and your goals.
Why bother tracking these things? Tracking and measuring customer retention metrics helps you make data-driven business decisions. For example, if you keep an eye on your repeat purchase rate during a marketing campaign and see that it increases, that’s a sign you’re doing something right. And the more diverse metrics you track, the better picture you get of your success.
Triggers:
- A brand wants to refine customer experiences
- A brand wants to boost customer loyalty and reputation
- The goal is increasing the ROI of marketing efforts
- Short-term goals include attracting new customers
Action:
- Before you start a new customer retention strategy, make sure you’re targeting the right audiences. Optimize your email list so it’s packed with the most active, engaged shoppers.
- Studies show 76% of consumers are frustrated when brand messaging isn’t personalized, so give your customer retention rate (CRR) a boost with personalized email and SMS messages based on users’ unique demographic, financial, and lifestyle details.
- Entice shoppers to make more frequent purchases by reminding them of items they left in their shopping cart. Customized abandoned cart reminders can help you increase your repeat purchase rate (RPR) and reclaim revenue.
- Launch initiatives that will increase customer satisfaction and boost your net promoter score. Ideas include loyalty rewards, referral programs, and customer feedback forms.
