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Exclusive Forrester Report on AI in Marketing
Investing in your existing (also known as repeat) customers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be a joy for both of you.
Why, you ask?
Just in time for peak shopping season, we checked customer purchase behavior from last year’s holiday/peak shopping period to predict how customers will behave this year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Simply put, Strategic Services' in-depth research into how existing and new customers behave shows that prioritizing resources to create the best campaigns for existing customers as opposed to new customers pays off big time.
Out of all customers who made a purchase on Black Friday last year, 57% were new versus 43% who were existing customers.
Out of all customers who made a purchase on Cyber Monday 2021, 54% were new customers versus 46% who were existing ones.
Though it may seem that new customers are more valuable, existing customers still purchased more items and generated higher overall order amounts as you will see below.
On Black Friday 2021, the average spend of existing customers was higher than newly acquired customers. New customers spent $94 on average, while existing customers spent $113 that day.
On Cyber Monday, similarly, new customers spent $91 on average, while existing customers spent $107 on that day.
The average number of items that customers purchased during peak season last year was lower for new customers versus existing ones, being 1.57 versus 1.94 items on Black Friday and 1.55 versus 1.85 items on Cyber Monday, respectively.
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
To discover whether customers who shopped on this day were only one-timers as well as their lifetime value, we looked into their post-purchasing patterns. We checked their purchase activity one month, three months, and six months after Black Friday.
Data shows retention rates were higher for existing customers and that they stay more loyal as they continue to shop. For example, half a year after Black Friday, 33% of existing customers made at least one additional purchase compared to just 16% of new customers who did.
That means existing customers' repeat purchase rate is twice as high – or double the retention rate of new customers – again proving that these segments are worth so much more. Even just one-month post-Black Friday, retention rates were approximately twice as high for existing customers: 15% versus 8%. Findings were very similar on Cyber Monday.
New customers tend to purchase at the lower end of the spectrum. In contrast, existing customers spend more. So, make the most of these trends:
The conclusion? This peak season, invest more in your existing clients so that they invest more in you.
Prioritization for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns should put existing customers first rather than creating new customer relationships.
It’s not too late! Pamper your existing customers with better creatives, content, offers, etc., to yield higher revenue. Building your marketing campaigns based on these pillars will ensure your existing customer relationships yield maximum results.
Want to hear more? Contact us today.
Happy holiday season!
Exclusive Forrester Report on AI in Marketing
In this proprietary Forrester report, learn how global marketers use AI and Positionless Marketing to streamline workflows and increase relevance.
Writers in the Optimove Team include marketing, R&D, product, data science, customer success, and technology experts who were instrumental in the creation of Positionless Marketing, a movement enabling marketers to do anything, and be everything.
Optimove’s leaders’ diverse expertise and real-world experience provide expert commentary and insight into proven and leading-edge marketing practices and trends.
