Jeweller - May 2021

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Why second is better than first
when it comes to sales
A customer’s second purchase with your business is the most critical part of the buying journey –
and this should be the focus of your marketing strategy, writes CHRIS PETERSEN.
Overlooked blogging strategies that can
improve your digital marketing results
BETH WALKER discusses simple ways to update and upgrade your blog content to make it more
effective at attracting readers, improving your search-engine ranking, and appealing to your audience.
Retail has a legacy of focusing on
immediate results. Historically, the
results that counted were the POS tickets
and total sales at the end of the day. The
better retailers measured store traffic and
calculated the conversion rates.
Even with the launch of ecommerce, core
metrics of success still focused on traffic –
acquiring customers, conversion rate, and
average order volume.
This is important because the metrics that
are measured are the ones that can be
managed and improved.
Studies repeatedly show that secondtime
buyers are more valuable and more
profitable than new customers, yet many
retailers are failing to measure the second
sale and track the related customer
variables, which in turn build lasting
relationships that create lifetime value.
So, why do so many retailers focus so
heavily on the first purchase and fail to
measure the key performance indicators
(KPIs) of the ‘second sale’?
Buy twice, buy for life
In 2018, retail marketing company
Bluecore analysed purchases from
16 clothing businesses. The results
underscored the importance and dynamics
of the second sale:
• Although customer value increased with
each purchase, the biggest jump in value
was between the first and second purchase
• Second-time buyers were far more
likely to become repeat buyers
• Approximately 60 per cent of second
purchases occur within 100 days of the first
• After 100 days, the chances of a second
purchase drop below 10 per cent
Yet, Bluecore also found that 80 per cent
of post-purchase messaging from the 16
clothing businesses focused on acquiring
new customers.
In the past, retailers have utilised mass
marketing and mass media. The goal of
the marketing strategy was reach and
Marketing efforts should focus on a customer’s second purchase.
frequency; that is, acquiring customers
and getting them into the store.
The focus, measurement and metrics
were on product sales today, not customer
relationships tomorrow.
Today, e-commerce retailers like
Amazon understand the potential of the
second sales, and how to leverage them.
E-commerce systems were designed from
the beginning to be individual customerfocused,
tracking when you visit, what you
view and what you purchase.
Then algorithms kick in to repeat-message
first time buyers for add-on sales and
second purchases, while tracking all the
corresponding data from the messages,
offers and future sales.
Yet bricks-and-mortar retailers often miss
the second sale because:
• Legacy systems are focused on sales
transactions, not customers
• Useful data is difficult to access
• Metrics are focused on transactions and
year-over-year results, not relationships
• Many lack integrated customer
relationship management (CRM) systems
to re-market and message customers.
How to nail the second sale
The future of retail and profitability lies
in retention and optimising relationships.
Second-time
buyers are more
valuable and
more profitable
than new
customers, yet
many retailers
are failing to
measure the
second sale and
track the related
customer
variables
In order to do that, retailers must think
and analyse from a customer relationship
perspective, not transaction sales.
This will require CRM and tracking that
enables retailers to answer key questions:
• What categories and products did the
customer shop from?
• What category did the customer make
their second purchase from?
• How long was it before they made the
second purchase?
• What marketing messages did they
receive, and what impact did they have on
conversion?
• What categories and products were the
second purchase from?
• How does that compare to other
customers purchasing similar products?
• What is the “basket of core products”
that create the lifetime value for the
customer?
Having the ability to answer questions
about individual customers creates
a path to retention and profitable
lifetime relationships.
Amazon has mastered using data
to convert multiple sales and build
relationships through its Prime
delivery service.
Traditional retailers have built their
customer relationships over decades
through talented sales staff – but the
key to continued success lies in CRM and
a focus on turning one-time shoppers into
lifetime customers.
There is no single model for success;
however, measuring and managing
the second sale is a critical metric for
changing the paradigm from acquisition
to retention.
CHRIS PETERSEN is founder and
CEO of retail consultancy Integrated
Marketing Solutions (IMS). Visit:
imsresultscount.com
Content marketing takes more effort than
simply publishing one blog post on a subject;
it requires you to think outside the box and
look for opportunities to be creative.
Yet as you build a ‘library’ of content, you will
eventually encounter a different challenge:
writer’s block, which will convince you that you
don’t have anything new to say.
While it’s unlikely you’ve written everything
on one subject, revisiting and optimising
your previous posts is one way to overcome
impediments to your creative flow.
This structured approach means your
existing posts will reach a wider audience
and your website will climb the searchengine
rankings while you think of ideas for
new content.
Below are three methods to optimise your
blog that are often overlooked but can quickly
improve your digital marketing results.
Update old blog posts
There are a few different strategies for
updating old content. The first step is to
identify which posts you should update first;
this will depend on the keywords users are
searching to find your business.
You can identify these keywords by looking
at the terms you rank highest for on search
engines like Google, the top keywords that
draw people to your site from your Google My
Business page, and the hashtags that attract
the most interactions on social media.
Try the below ideas and compare the
analytics to see which one helps improve the
search-engine rankings for your keywords:
• SEO optimisation – Look at your most
popular blog posts and review them for
on-page SEO (search engine optimisation)
opportunities. One of the best ways to do this
is by using an SEO ‘checker’ tool, which you
can download.
These tools will do a lot of the heavy lifting
when it comes to analysing your posts and
offering suggestions for improvement.
• Update images – Fresh photos should be
added to your posts. Ensure each element
Revitalising your business’ blog is an effective way to boost your Google ranking.
is titled and described using the correct
keywords.
• Add new information – Visit the earliest
posts on your blog and read the content.
Ask yourself if the article still aligns with
your business philosophy, current offers,
services, and products. If it doesn’t,
‘unpublish’ it and redirect the link to
prevent any errors from occurring.
If your blog post is still relevant, optimise
it to get more clicks by adding internal
links to recently published content, update
any external links to recently published
content, and update any statistics so they
reflect the current year.
Rewrite content to support the new
statistics, and adjust the wording in the
headers to incorporate ‘long-tail’ keywords
– that is, keywords that are longer and
more specific.
Add infographics or video
If you’re explaining more technical
concepts to your audience, your points will
be clearer when you show – rather than tell
– information.
Even when you incorporate text into ta blog
post, your audience will likely skim your
words as their eyes are drawn to images
or videos.
Social media analytics firm HubSpot found
that in 2020, 81 per cent of businesses used
video as part of their marketing strategy –
up almost 20 per cent in one year.
If your blog post
is still relevant,
optimise it to
get more clicks
by adding
internal links
to recently
published
content, update
any external
links to recently
published
content, and
update any
statistics so
they reflect the
current year
According to Google, six out of 10 people
would rather watch online videos than
television and YouTube is the second-most
viewed website on the Internet, after the
Google search homepage.
What’s more, viewers retain 95 per cent of
a message when they watch it in a video,
compared to 10 per cent when reading,
according to Insivia.
Adding infographics and video to your blog
posts makes them more engaging for
readers and will improve the ‘bounce rate’ –
how quickly users click away from a page.
Cracking the code
Finally, one of the best things you can do to
improve your search engine ranking is to
make the context of your content as easy
for Google’s AI to identify as possible –
essentially, ensuring Google’s bots do not get
confused and misclassify your website.
In addition to classic SEO techniques, like
incorporating headers and bulleted lists, you
can add a schema markup and structured
data – elements that a digital marketing
professional can assist in implementing.
Schema markup is simply a code that you
put on your website to help search engines
return more informative results for users.
Meanwhile, structured data refers to highly
organised information. When information is
highly structured and predictable, search
engines can more easily organise and display
it in creative ways. Again, this is an element
that is part of your website’s code, rather
than information your readers will see.
Once you’ve updated your blog content you
will have new information to promote on
social media and through email marketing.
If you’re facing writer’s block, don’t give
up! Rather than a new blog post, look into
your archives and incorporate one or all of
these strategies.
BETH WALKER writes for US-based
SMA Marketing, which specialises
in digital marketing strategies for
businesses. Visit: smamarketing.net
53 | May 2021
May 2021 | 54