Your most valuable resource as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) baby brand is your customers. Whether they’re devoted enthusiasts or newcomers, these individuals are the lifeblood of your baby product enterprise. The question is, how can you nurture, sustain, and cultivate a fruitful rapport with parents throughout their customer journey?
Unlocking the Potential: 5 Strategies for Enhancing Customer Retention and Lifetime Value in the Baby & Kids Product Niche
- Mutually Beneficial Referral Program
- Offer Insider Exclusives
- Listen & Respond to Your Customers
- Invest in Customer Service
- Provide Useful Articles About Babies and Kids
What Exactly Is Customer Lifetime Value?
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a metric that measures the total revenue generated by a single customer throughout their entire relationship with your brand. It serves as a barometer of customer contentment with both your products and overall brand experience.
You have probably heard it is easier to maintain a customer than to attract a new prospect. This is true. In fact, it is estimated keeping an existing customer is five times less expensive than attracting new ones. Simply put, the longer you have a satisfied customer, the more money your business will make.
E-commerce baby brands face a unique challenge, particularly contingent on their product offerings, as children grow at a rapid pace. This dynamic aspect of the baby and kids’ industry presents a constant need for adaptability. As parents know all too well, the once-beloved baby product may become obsolete in a matter of months as children quickly outgrow their belongings. This necessitates an agile approach to product development, marketing, and customer engagement.
E-commerce brands in this niche must be prepared to cater to the evolving needs and preferences of their customers as their children progress through different stages of growth. This can involve offering a diverse range of products suitable for various age groups, ensuring that customers always find what they need as their little ones reach new milestones.
Furthermore, the rapid growth of children can have a direct impact on customer lifetime value, as parents may have to frequently replenish and upgrade their baby products. Thus, the importance of building and maintaining a strong and lasting relationship with parents becomes even more pronounced, as customer satisfaction and trust are vital in this dynamic environment. This is where the strategies we’ve outlined come into play, helping e-commerce baby brands navigate the challenges while nurturing loyal and satisfied customers.
So how can you boost customer retention and lifetime value in your baby or kid products business? Start with these five fool-proof tricks.
1. Develop a Referral Plan Beneficial for Parents
Customers who wholeheartedly embrace a referral program enjoy a symbiotic bond with your brand. They perceive that you reciprocate what they offer, fostering loyalty. These returns might manifest as discounts, exclusive insights, product testing opportunities, early-access privileges, or complimentary gifts. Regardless of the incentive, they become steadfast patrons of your baby brand, willing to invest more over their customer lifetime due to the sense of appreciation and shared values.
Referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate than other customers that have engaged with your business through other marketing channels. It’s worth it to engage parents and have them share and refer other parents to you to grow your audience.
2. Offer Insider Exclusives
Customers actively participating in your loyalty program form an exceptional community that baby & kid product enterprises can honor with exclusive benefits. Bestow VIP experiences that simplify parents’ lives and reward those who consistently engage with your business. These modest tokens foster parental loyalty and elevate your customers’ lifetime value. Thoughtfulness is key – consider the challenges they face and what they desire most.
As an example, Burt’s Bees Baby offers rewards to those who join their Honeybee rewards. Parents can get points not only for making a purchase but also for following the brand’s accounts on social media and writing reviews. This way, Burt’s Bees Baby ensures they have engagement, followers and reviews.
3. Listen and Respond to Parent’s Needs and Requests
Put your customers first; they are your number one priority. Your baby brand performance will be a strong indicator of whether your customers are satisfied with their experience. Investing in the proper measures to track how parents’ interactions are performing will be critical for long-term success.
Things to consider and question when listening and responding to your customers:
- Are you providing enough information for your customers? Always look for improvements. Consider updating product descriptions, adding information about safety of the product and make it visible, displaying delivery costs upfront, updating product imagery, etc.
- Quickly respond to client testimonials or comments on your webpage. Responsive baby brands indicate they are willing to listen to customer concerns immediately. And when it comes to parents, they don’t have extra time on their hands to wait. Be as fast as possible.
- Build in customer feedback requests on tracking information and product emails.
When was the last time you picked up the phone and called a customer out of the blue? Making 15-20 phone calls a month at random keeps you close to the customer and helps you continually update and revise your customer journey maps so you can continue to add value.
4. Invest in Customer Service
Robust customer service begets enhanced customer experiences, thus boosting customer retention and lifetime value. Given that customer service can directly influence your bottom line, it’s paramount to maintain a well-prepared team capable of swiftly addressing issues and reaching customers wherever they may be.
Roughly 66% of customers utilize three distinct communication channels when seeking support, underscoring the importance of active brand presence on various social media platforms to cater to diverse needs. It’s imperative to facilitate easy customer access, meeting them on familiar terrain (website forms, live chat, social media, SMS, etc.). This holds even greater significance for baby and kids’ product brands, as simplifying the customer journey is paramount. These actions collectively transform the parent’s perception, making them feel genuinely valued and understood.
5. Empower with Informative Content for Babies and Kids
Never underestimate the influence of compelling content. Product content wields substantial sway over purchase decisions. Brands that offer comprehensive product descriptions, step-by-step guides, FAQs, valuable tips, parenting wisdom, and engaging narratives of real customer experiences gain a distinct edge in converting potential customers. A recent study underscores that credible product information stands as the primary motivator for consumer purchases. ct.
Providing resource articles that are insight-driven can answer parent’s questions, such as:
- How can I use this product to solve my problem?
- What other competitors should I research before purchasing this product?
- What are the pros and cons of the product?
- What happens if the product is defective or needs to be replaced?
- What product attributes are most compelling to purchase?
Improving customer retention and customer lifetime value for a baby brand doesn’t happen in a blink of an eye. You need to be thoughtful and helpful at all times. It requires dedication and a focus on putting the customer’s needs first. Implementing the five strategies is a strong way to improve these metrics all while building the necessary trust for long-term prosperity.
Greg is the founder and CEO of Stryde and a seasoned digital marketer who has worked with thousands of businesses, large and small, to generate more revenue via online marketing strategy and execution. Greg has written hundreds of blog posts as well as spoken at many events about online marketing strategy. You can follow Greg on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
