Are you showing the same offer to everyone and wondering why your sales aren’t growing? The problem is that your customers aren’t all the same. One has just visited your website and doesn’t trust you because they’re seeing you for the first time. Another wants to buy but is having second thoughts. A third has bought from you before and might buy again. Yet you’re telling everyone the same thing. As a result, you’re losing money simply because you’re not segmenting your audience.
The experts at Step Link Canada break down simple customer segmentation in dropshipping and explain how to work with each group to get more people to make a purchase.
Why segment your audience
You use the same approach to showcase your product. You present it in exactly the same way to a new visitor, a regular customer, someone who has just popped in to have a look, and someone who has already added the item to their basket. Experts at Step Link company argue that this is a poor approach, because everyone has different motivations. Some look at the price. For others, fast delivery is important. Others need reviews. Still others buy on impulse. If you communicate with everyone ‘in the same tone’, most people will simply leave.
Main types of customers and how to engage with them
Managers at Step Link recommend dividing your audience into a few simple groups when it comes to dropshipping. This will help you tailor your advertising more effectively, speak to customers in their own language, and avoid wasting your budget. Companies that segment their audience correctly achieve conversion rates that are two to three times higher.
- New visitors. These are people visiting the shop for the first time. They don’t know you yet and don’t trust the platform. It’s important to immediately show them the clear benefits of the product, convenient purchasing terms, and genuine reviews. It is easy to lose a new visitor if they do not immediately see the benefit of the product or a reason to buy. And since 97% of online shop visitors leave without placing an order anyway, it is important to hold their attention from the very first seconds.
- Interested customers. This is an audience that has already shown interest. These people have viewed the product page, read the description, compared options or added the product to their basket. They are closer to making a purchase than new visitors, so they need to be handled separately. Sometimes a person is just one step away from buying – for example, a reminder, a discount or a simple answer to a question (if they have one).
- Repeat customers. These are customers who have already placed an order with you. They are particularly valuable because, as the experts at Step Link Platform Inc. point out, it is easier and cheaper to sell to them again than to attract a new customer. Statistics show that around 15% of customers return to place a repeat order. Many shops lose out on profit by failing to engage with this audience.
- Winning back lost customers. These are people who used to buy from you but have stopped ordering. They already know your shop, so winning them back is easier than seeking a new audience from scratch. You can offer such customers a bonus, a personalised discount or a new product based on their past interests. If you do not engage with this group, you lose customers who already trust you.
Key findings and recommendations from Step Link Dropshipping
New visitors are attracted through advertising and landing pages (the page a user lands on after clicking an advert) featuring product offers and customer reviews. Interested customers are followed up with retargeting (showing adverts to people who have already visited the site) and email/push notifications (for example, about abandoned baskets).
Repeat customers are sent newsletters, offered additional products and personalised deals. Lost customers are brought back through win-back campaigns (marketing activities to bring back old customers): discounts, promo codes and reminders via email or adverts. Experts at Step Link Platform Inc. claim that if everything is set up correctly at every stage, conversion rates will start to rise.
