Retain your new customers by flipping the funnel
Your approach to pre-BFCM expansion and list growth was likely based on the traditional marketing funnel on the left: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty. But post-BFCM, a perspective shift is required. Your focus is no longer on acquiring and converting new customers - you’ve already got a large cohort of first-time purchasers who are at that conversion stage. Your job now is to keep them moving through the funnel toward loyalty and brand advocacy.
The reality is that many holiday deal-hunters won’t return to shop your brand again on their own - they need careful nurturing and personalized engagement strategies to entice them back. In fact, for 64% of businesses, shoppers acquired during BFCM have a lower liftime value (than those acquired over the rest of the year. Whether that’s true or not, your post-BFCM re-engagement strategies do need to be on point to drive repeat purchases. With that in mind, it’s time to flip the funnel!
What does flipping the funnel mean? It means scaling back your focus on the top of the funnel, and flipping your strategy to focus on your highly-engaged customers and first-time purchasers from BFCM. Let your brand advocates spread the word about their recent purchases through user-generated content (UGC) like reviews, social posts and testimonials. Then use that content to nurture those first-time purchasers into making an additional purchase or joining a higher-engagement program (like subscribe-and-save or loyalty). The ‘trickle-down’ effect of investing in your existing customers will feed the acquisition half of your funnel through social buzz, referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Create audiences and automations to reach your retention goals
You’ve captured a tonne of customer data over BFCM - now it’s time to use it to power retention-focused segments and flows. Explore the dropdown below to find which
segments to create for your post-BFCM sending strategy, as well as which flows to optimize in order to build your retention safety net.
SEGMENT: Second or third-time buyers over BFCM
These shoppers are already well on their way to being advocates for your brand, and this time of year is the perfect time to take advantage of that! Ask these repeat customers for their help in creating new social proof like reviews, social posts/user-generated content, and testimonials. This content is extremely valuable, and is of little/no cost to your brand. Consider running a contest for the best UGC post, or a bump in loyalty points as a thank you for leaving a review.
SEGMENT: First-time buyers over BFCM
The first segment you’ll want to create is those customers who bought from you for the first time over BFCM. They're primed to pay attention to your brand since they just spent money with you, and they’ve also shown you what else they’re interested in by clicking your BFCM emails and engaging with products on your site. You can target them with holiday gift guides, incentives to join your loyalty program, plus any other unique benefits you offer, like flexible returns or payment plans. And don’t forget to include 5-star reviews and testimonials in every email!
SEGMENT: Category-specific shoppers
It’s worth segmenting your BFCM shoppers across the categories they bought from. Maybe you have a special holiday version of an existing product coming out that a shopper from that category won’t be able to resist - or you know from your own internal data that once someone buys X product from you, it’s easy to hook them on a Y. Use the segment builder to identify the groups you think will have the highest likelihood of repurchasing, and create curated campaigns that show how well their previous purchase would pair with additional products.
FLOW: Review request flow
Whether they’re a first, second or third-time buyer, you should be welcoming any and all reviews from your customers. If you haven’t done so already, make a review request a core part of your post-purchase automations. How do reviews help with retention? Social proof is powerful, and you can feature your most outstanding reviews in campaigns and flows to convert first or second-time buyers. On the other hand, negative reviews give your customer service team an opportunity to right any wrongs - so you can turn a frustrated first-time buyer into a potential returning customer.
FLOW: Winback flow
A winback flow is kind of like a superhero - it swoops in towards the end of the post-purchase cycle and rescues your lapsed customers, delivering them back to the safety of your brand. Set to trigger a certain number of days after your customer’s last placed order, it hopes to re-engage lapsed customers with exciting product updates, and sometimes with discounts. So make sure that you keep your winback flow up-to-date and optimized with any new products you’ve launched, any press coverage you’re particularly proud of, and anything else you think might entice people back to your brand once the holiday glow has subsided.
BONUS SEGMENT: BFCM window shoppers
Flipping the funnel means putting retention first, but it doesn't mean forgetting about acquisition altogether - especially when BFCM drives so much non-committal traffic to your website that your window shoppers segment is probably bursting at the seams. Consider these folks the 'warm leads' of your holiday season - they've shown interest and intent, but for whatever reason, fell off the hook. Employ creative strategies to convert them while your brand is still relatively top-of-mind, like targeting them with gift guides and gift cards for the undecided shopper, promoting your loyalty program incentives and shouting about your flexible returns policy or payment methods (if you have them). And above all, don't forget that every email you send to this segment should be infused with some kind of UGC from your existing happy customers, delivering highly impactful social proof.
Note: Don't forget to always include the 'Can Receive Marketing' condition when you plan to use segments for sending.
Get inspired by targeted retention messaging
Explore the tabs below to find out how four Klaviyo brands used the segments above to create hyper-personalized, retention-focused content for their customers.
The loyalty program promotion
Who: First-time buyers over BFCM (who haven’t joined Nani’s loyalty program).
What: Email promoting their loyalty program - with the extra benefits they’re offering over the holiday season, like double points.
Why: Nani knows that once a customer joins their loyalty program, their likelihood of repurchasing almost doubles. They’re pulling out all the stops to maximize the lifetime value of their BFCM acquisitions.
The holiday product upsell
Who: BFCM shoppers who bought from the ‘Coffee Beans’ category.
What: Email showcasing the special Beantown holiday mug… the perfect upsell for someone who’s just invested in some Beantown coffee beans.
Why: Folks who grind their own beans take their morning coffee ritual seriously. They’re a likely segment to splash out on a special mug to match the special time of year.
The UGC request
Who: Customers who’ve bought twice or more from Bola’s.
What: Email telling loyal customers about Bola’s new UGC contest! The social post with the most appealing holiday spread featuring some Bola’s Baked Goods will win a hamper of holiday treats.
Why: Bola’s knows that imagery of real people enjoying their products enhances their email campaign performance. They want to collect some UGC so that they can continue their retention efforts during the January slow season.
BONUS: The ‘make up your mind’ incentive
Who: New BFCM subscribers who browsed SWAK’s site but didn’t make a purchase.
What: SWAK runs a campaign allowing BFCM window shoppers to select 3 free samples that they can try at home when they buy any digital gift card.
Why: Undecided shoppers are usually either considering a gift, or don’t know what shade would suit them. SWAK solves both these problems at once by promoting their popular gift card option, as well as giving the uninitiated the chance to try out SWAK at home for free.
Next steps
Get building! Use the below resources to help you execute the retention strategies you've learned about in this guide.