Premium customers are the actual revenue drivers to a business in the long run. These move one step more than the loyal ones and subscribe to your subscription-based products and services. They trust and rely on your products and services which is why they pay to you and not to your competitors. But do you know how to convert the loyal customers into Premium customers or what you call ‘Freemium to Premium?’ When the festive season is knocking on the door, it time to add up to their buying experience with premium services.
Not only that, it’s equally important to know successful ways to diversify and expand the customer base through the multichannel and omnichannel approaches. So, here is an elaborated piece to guide you on the significance of building a premium customer base through a multichannel selling approach this festive season.
What does Premium Consumer mean in eCommerce business?
Established brands and businesses level up their marketing and service game by offering premium services to prospective customers. To customers who are ready to pay for their exclusive services or product features. Such customers who take up your premium services are called Premium customers.
If you are one of the established brands and run your own well-known store; here is a game-changer trick for you to leverage this festive season. Look, see, and analyze what special do you have to offer to your loyal customers other than the general ones. Imagine your loyal customers getting to know that there are more services in your treasure box and can be leveraged by those who enroll for premium membership. Won’t that be an exciting, inquisitive, and special approach to your marketing plan? I guess it will be.
Why is it important to convert existing customers from Freemium to Premium?
Offering premium services have multiple benefits that work subconsciously in the minds of your customers. Premium services add to the special purchasing experience of the customers. Let’s hop in to see how does it work:
Saves extra research time
First and foremost, premium services save the extra time of customers from searching the trending and best products released by your brand. Premium services help them to get their hand on the best and latest product released by you on your e-store. This in return helps you to present your products to your actual potential buyers who can pay for them quite soon.
Instilling a sense of privilege
Secondly, Premium services are special and upgraded services that can be availed only by premium consumers. This instills a sense of privilege in premium customers as any updated and upgraded feature first reaches them. Thus, they have the right to access those products over the others.
Differentiates Quality and Comfort
Thirdly, premium means services more than the usual ones. ‘More’ in terms of Quality and Comfort. By offering premium, you allow your customers to go for better quality and comfortable products. They pay extra than others, so it is natural that you offer them extra than others. Therefore, by creating premium services you actually indicate better opportunities your customers can think of enjoying.
Predicting future scope of Business
This is mathematical but, yes by actually understanding the response and consumer behavior of your premium customer, you get to calculate your online Customer Lifetime Value. Their feedback, pattern, and interest will tell you your areas of strengths and weaknesses. Further, help you use the right CRM solutions to retain them on your e-store.
Do you know that Walmart is opening special shopping benefits to its Walmart + members, giving them the opportunity to purchase Black Friday offers first along with extra 4 hours of shopping?
How to convert Loyal customers Into Premium customers?
There are many ways that you can persuade your customers to convert from freemium to premium customer. Below are some successful ways that you can adopt to convert more of your loyal customers into premium ones:
Giving meaningful incentives
First, giving your customers a meaningful incentive on going freemium to premium. Incentives can be extra offers, special discounts, free shipping, or same-day delivery. This will give your customers a reason to spend more with your brand.
Make and deliver their dream product
Second, premium can be an opportunity to navigate into the insights of what makes a dream product of your customers. Convincing your customers and actually catering to their dream products that satisfy their needs, wants or desires can be another way to convert them from freemium to premium. Your landing page and product pages must be touching their pain points and should be problem-solving too.
Demarcating customer groups through Premium
Third, as sellers and also as a marketer you need to talk about how premium customers and general customers are different. You have to get it through your audience about your premium services. Clearly but positively demarcates a broad line of services enjoyed by premiums over freemiums.
Add Premium CTA strategically
Fifth, by analyzing where your targeted audience loves to shop from, product categories they hover on and the maximum price that they have paid till now, you can place your premium CTA button. The landing pages and product pages of your online store can be strategically utilized for CTA buttons. In addition to this, you can look out for a great marketing solution for a sure growth rate.
Putting the Premium benefits and reasons across
Sixth, creative positioning of ‘Benefits’ of converting freemium to premium could help you get through the minds of your high spending customers. Eventually converting to premium consumers. Indeed, good eCommerce content marketing and advertising solutions can convey the right idea and vision of Premium benefits to your online targeted audience.
Create a hook through Premium benefits
Seventh, create a hook. Hook in terms of generating a need of switching to better services and buying experience. Many online brands and businesses of all sizes do it smartly. Engage your online customers skillfully and make it a necessity for them to switch to the premium for upgraded user experience.
In addition to the points said above, many sellers have a question regarding the eCommerce brands going towards the idea of sustainability. Sellers have a pertinent question regarding consumers’ willingness to pay more for sustainable products and services and here is the answer:
Are online consumers willing to pay a premium for sustainability?
Yes, they are! According to current research and reports, consumers around the world have become environment-friendly than ever before and are willing to pay a buck more if it saves the planet from degrading further.
Furthermore, youth consumers in the UK, US, Japan and Australia, and many countries like that have agreed to pay more for sustainable products and services. In fact, the craze for environment-friendly products is only increasing and driving the best future opportunities for responsible brands and sellers across the eCommerce arena.
However, the pertinent question that follows next is how to increase more customer base and thus have an opportunity to bring them up to premium services. The answer to this is going Multichannel than just sticking to one’s own e-store.
What is Online Multichannel selling?
Multichannel selling means embarking presence on multiple online platforms and targeting either global or region-specific customers through marketplaces. Marketplaces offer potential target audiences, favorable selling, and marketing tools along with seller-centric programs to educate the sellers to run and boost sales on marketplaces beyond their personal e-store.
Multichannel primarily involves three aspects:
- Firstly, selling through Marketplaces
- Secondly, selling through Mobile Apps
- Thirdly, reaching customers through gift or treasure trucks
We will be covering each one of them in a nutshell and would discuss the solutions that you might take along this festive season.
List of Marketplaces to sell Online this Festive Rush
Going multichannel is mostly about selling through different marketplaces based on your product categories and regions you want to target. Today it is more of a necessity to reach beyond individual e-store and country boundaries and expand online business worldwide.
Here is a list of marketplaces that you might consider selling on and expanding your customer base:
Amazon
It is not possible to be on planet earth in the 21st century and be unaware of Amazon. Being one of the eCommerce giants that delivers multi-folded selling opportunities to sellers and buyers across the globe, customers are flooding in to get the best of whatever they find suitable for them on Amazon with approaching festivals like Halloween, BFCM, etc.
The best way to make Amazon a profitable platform in a short span of time is to look out for some eCommerce solutions that suit your business. Such solutions can help you get established on Amazon with just the right solution customized according to your business needs.
Etsy
Etsy is for the potential sellers and buyers globally with a high sense of aesthetics. Creativity, colors, vintage, and imagination find their best outlet platform through Etsy. Said that, with many active and creative sellers on Etsy, it serves as one of the most seller-centric online platforms for getting the best potential customers globally.
To be honest, sellers have been using the best of integrations and solutions for finding their way amidst cut-throat competition on Etsy. These solutions have helped them give automated processes, delivering real-time updates and bulk-product upload from e-store to marketplace store, to result in great sales in a short time. Working on the same lines, many eCommerce solution provider has evolved something similar and something more than the routine benefiting hundreds of Etsy sellers to date. You can quickly check out what’s in there for you by clicking here.
eBay
Subsequently, equally significant and revered, eBay stands as one of the big global eCommerce platforms. What makes eBay a peculiar platform is its bidding system allowing sellers to put their products on auction.
With the festive season, the popularity and fondness for this marketplace are only increasing and with every new feature and update, the craze for the platform is only increasing amongst sellers and buyers. With this intention selling on eBay with robust eBay solutions can be profitable for many reasons. You can explore your opportunities here.
Alibaba
Alibaba is the leading eCommerce marketplace in China surpassing renowned marketplaces like Taobao and Tmall. In addition to that, it is one of the fastest-growing eCommerce markets in the world. The total transaction estimates of Alibaba happened to be $248 billion more than eBay and Amazon combined.
If you wish to join incredible customer base of Alibaba, you can easily be a part of the Ali express affiliate program (Ali express is a child company of Alibaba). Additionally, advertise the products from your e-store and earn commission on every sale without having to manage any inventory, warehouse or shipment at all. Know more about this Aliexpress Affiliate Program here.
There are many other growing marketplaces also, which can be utilized to target a specific set of customers. Here they are:
Southeast Asian Marketplaces
Shopee
To begin with, Shopee expands over Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines. This marketplace caters to 80 million customers. Above all, it encompasses 180 million unique products with Fashion, Home and decors, and Beauty amounting to the highest sales generation during the festive season.
Lazada
Popularly known as the Amazon of the southeast, its importance and popularity are self-explanatory. With 560 million active users, it currently encompasses over 3000 brands. Thus, Lazada is one of the prominent one-stop marketplace for natives.
Lelong
Lelong is a Malaysian marketplace. Accommodates 10,000+ sellers selling a variety of products suitable to the day-to-day needs and demands of the natives. With 9 million monthly visitors and around 30 million monthly transactions, Lelong certainly has a bright future to offer to its sellers.
Other US and UK based Marketplaces
Facebook and Instagram Shopping
Millions of sellers have already started selling on Facebook and Instagram and have witnessed a faster sales growth. By taking the help of certified channel integration providers, you can easily open an account and get the best expert advice for optimum utilization of the platforms to sell this festival season.
Google Shopping
Google shopping has been another trendsetter for the eCommerce retail world. Sellers from the US have unanimously agreed to experience increased growth in their customer base with up to 30% year-over-year growth. The best part of Google Shopping is that it is extremely seller-centric. Sellers can for free list the product with no commission fees or any other hidden charges.
Besides, looking at the seller-centric nature of this new platform, sellers have without delay enrolled for Buy On Google Program. This program ensures the best integration solution for hassle-free and automated selling mechanisms.
Wish
Wish is one of the most visited and shopped eCommerce spots for the US population. It has over 100 million monthly active users, approximately 500 million registered users, and over 500,000 merchants. Wish successfully generated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2020 which was a 31% increase from the previous year.
In fact, many sellers have recently shown interest in selling on Wish during BFCM, the crazy sales season in the US. You too shall consider selling on Wish with any preferred framework that best suits your business needs.
OnBuy
Furthermore, On Buy is a European emerging marketplace with an aim to expand over 143 countries around the world. Highly seller-friendly, it offers sellers competitive selling fees, PayPal seller protection with UK-based support team.
With the help of the best eCommerce solution expert, you can easily get onboard and take advantage of reaching out to your targeted audience.
Selling through Mobile Apps
As was previously stated, selling through mobile apps serves an omnichannel experience to customers. Mobiles are handy and more than half of the population use mobile sets every single day. With the increase in mobile penetration globally; marketplaces and sellers are making their e-store mobile-friendly.
With Progressive Web Apps, the reliability, speed, and engagement have increased amongst customers even in the remote and low network areas. PWA solutions at CedCommerce endeavors to build a revolutionary omnichannel eCommerce ambiance ensuring a growing eCommerce future ahead.
Selling through gift or treasure trucks
Last but not the least, have you heard of Amazon’s Treasure Truck or FedEx’s Mobile Gifting Trucks? If not, now is the time. Currently in United States, Amazon and FedEx have started unique idea of selling products and delivering gifts to customers through trucks.
The idea is to make shopping and sending and receiving of gifts by loved ones even special. The time is flying and festivals are fast approaching. Let your consumers, receive and send gifts in unprecedented ways this year. This can be one of the brilliant ideas for making Freemium to premium customers.
BUILD, GROW and EXPAND your Business with CedCommerce this festive season
Thriving exponentially since 2010, CedCommerce has extended eCommerce services to over 25+ countries with more than 30,000 happy customers globally. With 50+ global partners, 850+ tailored eCommerce solutions, CedCommerce is accelerating in every nook and corner of the eCommerce arena.
Besides, known for the best customizable and budget-friendly multichannel integrations; CedCommerce has successfully created advanced and flexible solutions just appropriate for the current marketing and sales strategies. These expert-crafted solutions ensure delivering a cohesive selling journey to the sellers across multiple marketplaces giants like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, Wish, SEA, and European marketplaces.
Moreover, with advanced services like Multichannel solutions/integrations, Content marketing, Marketing automation, Payment extensions, and Shipment extensions; CedCommerce promises to make your business evolve with a unique user experience and increased brand loyalty.
Book a call now to know more about CedCommerce services and get in touch with expert consultants. These experts will take you through a comprehensive guide of the integrations and services best suitable for your business needs. Also if you want experts to connect to you, just drop your details, and an expert will connect to you in no time.