Research shows it’s far more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. Just consider the marketing or sales resources, proposal or RFP responses, multichannel acquisition campaigns, and more, that go into landing a new client, compared to the endless opportunities and automated efforts that drive repeat sales from a loyal customer.

While converting prospects into new customers is a crucial aspect of every business strategy, customer retention focuses on driving loyalty among your strongest supporters. According to Crazy Egg, returning customers spend 31% more than new customers. Moreover, when you release new products, existing customers are 50% more likely to try them out.

Data from eConsultancy supports this trend, finding that revenue add-to-cart rate for a repeat customer is 23.5%, versus a new shopper’s 5.29%. What’s more, returning customers drive $10.67 revenue per session, versus a new shopper’s $1.73 – an increase of 517%.

How are you keeping loyal customers coming back for more? The key to customer loyalty lies in delivering a consistent and simple multichannel customer journey. Think about a vacation you’ve taken: the better the experience, the more likely you are to plan a return trip.

The best customer experiences are easy. They may not be flashy or sexy, but they stand out for not standing out. Your customer get answers to their questions quickly, find the perfect products, get a refund without a hassle, autofill credit card information, access invoices fast – the list goes on.

Does your website provide a frictionless, intuitive user experience (UX) that helps customers find the products and information they need – and fast? Is your marketing on-brand, consistent, contextual, and providing value? We’re sharing four must-have digital strategies to deliver an easy and enjoyable shopping experience, deepen relationships, increase order frequency, and continuously drive repeat sales.

Adding a direct-to-consumer channel to your B2B company is not unlike opening a brand-new business. The B2C space is saturated with competition and heightened consumer expectations, and your B2B authority won’t automatically carry over.

What’s more, B2C means you’re competing directly with Amazon and other large retailers and dot coms, and that demands delivering on immediate shipping, price competition, simple returns, and an elevated product experience.

But don’t try to boil the ocean all at once – you won’t become a nationally-known brand overnight. Instead, think clearly on what distinguishes you from the competition, whether it’s your products, customer service, shipping speed, pricing, loyal fanbase, or overall customer experience. Exploit these key differentiators across your website, social, email, and advertising campaigns.

The first decision you need to make is how you’ll handle your e-commerce plan, as your approach to your website will impact all areas of your marketing efforts. (We’ve outlined key considerations to determine your best website strategy here.)

Next, with the right e-commerce foundation in place, you’ll need to build your B2C brand through sheer tenacity, differentiation, and a smart, multi-channel digital strategy.

Impression by impression, social share by social share, and interaction by interaction, you’ll start to build and grow your B2C identity. We’ve outlined some critical marketing considerations to get you started.