Top customer retention strategies used by e-commerce businesses

Customer retention is as important, if not more so, then customer acquisition for online businesses. Loyal customers are the base on which platforms and businesses can grow.

And this is why having loyal customers can increase lifetime value, provide positive word-of-mouth reviews, and reduce marketing costs. There are a number of different retention strategies that are growing in popularity on e-commerce sites. These include gamification techniques and loyalty programmes, let's take a look.

The Rise of Gamification in E-commerce

Gamification is a feature becoming prevalent at online retailers. It carefully, and strategically, uses game elements to encourage actions like placing a review, making a purchase or staying loyal. There are various ways that these gamification features are introduced to the shopper as well. They can be wheel of fortunes, gift boxes, reward-based challenges, interactive referral programmes, points, levels and badges.

Many established brands have already begun using such techniques in both their loyalty and gamification techniques. For instance, Starbucks has a reward programme with various tiers so that customers can earn free drinks. Sephora has a loyalty programme awarding repeat customers with discounts and freebies. And Lacoste offers their regulars virtual prize hunts.

In recent years, several companies have taken these ideas and run with them, offering even more in the way of gamified rewards. Temu is one of them, and has actually become one of the most successful when it comes to leveraging gamification techniques to keep shoppers engaged. Temu has countdown timers to encourage faster shopping, points-based rewards and even animated elements to keep the shopping experience incredibly dynamic.

How Temu Uses Gamification to Drive Engagement

For the most part, shopping on Temu feels like a game. And this is exactly the point. The idea is that users are kept engaged, and want to "play" or shop more. Temu carefully utilises things like roulette-style wheels which, when spun, offer discounts or rewards on purchases immediately.

There are also flash deals with clear countdown times which creates a sense of need, desire and urgency in the shopper. Finally, there are also referral incentives. This encourages shoppers to participate and remain shopping on the Temu platform, coming back time and time again. Through all of these features, shopping on Temu is akin to a competitive game. It encourages impulse buying too.

The Role of Discount Codes in the Gamified Shopping Experience

A major part of this gamification is the option of claiming discount codes. Temu discount codes are actually a major part of their overall customer retention and acquisition strategies. An overview of the best discount codes for Temu can be easily found online, as they help to reduce product prices making them even more appealing. Importantly, even with these discounts, Temu's profits are unaffected because of the low-cost business model employed by the company.

The discounts are not always simple and easily placed either. Many of them are found by shoppers once they complete in-app activities. It's worth noting, that one of these activities is to download the app itself in the first place. Offers are announced on the desktop version, but only awarded via the app.

Many special promotions are also awarded once an action is completed, which simply adds to the feeling of achievement, and the desire to keep doing it. Many other gamified e-commerce platforms integrate discount codes too, and this further incentivises repeat purchases.

Why Gamification is Shaping the Future of E-commerce

Gamification techniques such as these are going beyond Temu though. There are more and more brands (think SHEIN), introducing these interactive elements into their apps and sites too. With psychological triggers like rewards, social proof and urgency, consumer behaviour is being heavily influenced across more and more platforms.

By using gamification techniques, many of these platforms simply aim to cater to a wider audience. With the shift to mobile usage, this is a sensible move, and helps to meet the evolving expectations of their customer base. More and more, consumers are used to interactive, app like experiences, which these companies simply take advantage of.

To put it in perspective, studies have shown that the quick rewards and progression tactics result in a 36% increase in likelihood a consumer will spend money. As such, it's highly likely that gamification will remain a dominant trend in e-commerce.