Customer Retention Tools

Post feature requests to this forum and a pre-configured poll will automatically be created for you.

How important is this enhancement to you?

It's a critical enhancement that I must have.
18
78%
It's an important enhancement but others are more critical.
2
9%
I'd like to have it but it's not that important.
2
9%
I'd never use this feature.
1
4%
 
Total votes: 23

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igavemybest
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Customer Retention Tools

Post by igavemybest » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:47 pm

Customer retention tools are important to everyone that has a business. In this post: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7608 the poster had points on their site somehow. I like the points and was actually tring to figure some way to do it myself. I wish that AC had the option to do something like that, and assign a point for $ purchased. For example the Admin could assign a point value as $0.10 or a point value of $2.00 or whatever. Then everytime a purchase was made, the customers points added up to get free stuff or however the store set it up, and the points could be used as coupons, or items could have point values along with $ values. What do you think?

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by DonAshby » Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:52 pm

Yes

All sites need a Rewards Program. Isnt this part of the Feature List?

Don

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Jaz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:14 am

Sounds like a feature Able could really push! I would love to see it.

~Jaz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by russg » Fri Nov 28, 2008 7:24 pm

This is something we really would like to have. We don't mind to pay extra for the mod.

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by jmestep » Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:17 am

Web2Market would be interested in developing it if it is not something Able will be coming out with as a feature. I know in the past here have been requests for it in Able 5. If you are interested, please contact pchrisman@web2market.com.
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Robbie@FireFold » Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:47 am

I'd be really interested in this.
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igavemybest
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by igavemybest » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:02 am

Yes, this should be a standard feature of the cart, not an option we have to pay extra for.

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by mazhar » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:11 am

One way to implement this could be use a new field in UserSettings. For example let's say the we have a setting named "CustomerPoints" and each time an order is placed by customer we can increment this value by a specific rate. When these points reaches a certain limit the reward could be given to user either by customizing the checkout process to manually add some free stuff to the basket or other way could be have a report in admin which can list all users eligible for free stuff. There could be some option on the report to send giftcerts etc by Email to these users.

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Robbie@FireFold » Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:46 pm

That'd be cool.

Kinda like a kid in the arcade with his tickets.
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by russg » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:38 pm

A few suggestions:

There should be an option to set grace period before points become available (we would use 30 days).
There should be an option to subtract points for returns, automatically.
Assuming grace period can be programmed there should be two sets of points: Pending Points and Points Available
Would be nice if the customer could convert points to dollars once the minimum point balance for exchange is reached, in other words it should automated and applied at checkout or at the least offer the option to a cutomer at checkout. (for example if 200 points = $20, then if I have 560 points I should be able to apply $40 in points at checkout at the time of ordering with 160 points balance left)

Frankly, this mod (or feature) would help AbleCommerce sales anyway. Hopefully this ill not be put away for a year.

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by igavemybest » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:48 pm

The last post was great. When I started this thread I had not really thought about those points, but yes, I completely agree with that as I am sure everyone would. Thanks so much!

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:50 pm

Customer retention using an affiliate program.

I am trying to take a different approach to affiliate programs. We all know the best advertizing is word of mouth. My customers also tend to have a huge presence on the internet, especially social networking sites. Instead of signing up a bunch of affiliates that are just looking to cash in on our sales, I would like to empower our customers to push our product.

What I would like to do us have all of our customers automatically signed up for an affiliate account when they open an account with the store. Under their account information, I want them to be able to see the unique identifier for their affiliate ID and how much they have earned. It would also be nice for them to see this amount on every page of the web site so long as they are logged in. Instead of sending them a check, I want the amount to be redeemable as store credit.

I think this is much better than the old school marketing method of throwing up banners in obscure places that people have learned to ignore. I want my customers to post reviews of or products and push our products in normal web conversations on forums, MySpace, Facebook, etc. This is where people take product endorsement seriously.

Also, because they are our customers, they want our product, which makes store credit as good as cash to them. I can just put a link on every page saying “Want your stuff for free – Click here” I think this is a lot more appealing than something that says earn 10% commission on selling for us. That sounds like marketing hype and a lot of work for them.

I want to keep it simple. I just want 10% across the board and I don’t care that much about fancy reports and banner adds etc.

So the question would be how to implement this. I like the simple interface of the affiliate program built into Able, but we need a way to actually link it to customer accounts and to provide the earning as a credit for their next order.

I looked at Affiliate Wiz, but it does not appear that it provides any features that will help me with this.

I think this could be tired into the points system that we are talking about here. I am very interested in getting this going ASAP. What can I do to help push this along?
David Jasiewicz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:43 am

So I have what might be an easier way to go about this. It should require less integration. It works as follows:

1. Customer signs up for an account or places an order.
2. If the customer is logged in, there will be a URL at the bottom of each page that is the URL of the page that they are on with an identifier for their account. This would be similar to how the affiliate program works, but tied to their account. There will be instructions for the customers that if they use that link to promote our products in forums etc. They will get a kickback. This link can be presented to them in a way that is similar to how YouTube gives you a URL to imbed videos.
3. When this link is used, they will get a credit applied to their user account. This number would not actually be a credit to their account as it appears that AC is not set up to track credits to people accounts. This would just be a number shown at the top of page letting them see how much they have earned.
4. When the balance reaches a certain amount, we email them a gift certificate.

I don’t know what would be involved here, but I assume there would be less integration being it would not try to give the customer an actual credit.
David Jasiewicz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Tomgard » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:36 pm

Jaz - great stuff. I would like to see something just like that as well. I think the quality of that traffic is much better than that of most affiliate programs that I have used.
Bryan Bundgaard
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:54 pm

OK, I am looking to move forward on this. I have been working with Bryan to get this developed. It should work similar to how I have listed above except as an improvement, the customers would automatically have their credits posted to a gift certificate that they could use to apply to any order. Some minor details will have to be worked out on the user interface and I am sure there will be slight modifications once programming is under way.

Anyhow, I am really excited about this and I think it will give a big competitive advantage. Now I am trying to find others that want to take advantage of this too. The developer wants $3000 to create the plugin, but is willing to develop it for $1500 if they can retain the rights to sell it as a later. What this means is that I need to find others that are interested in funding this project. If we can get 5 people to pitch in, we are only looking at about $300 per person for this great feature. Contact me if you are interested so I can get it moving forward ASAP!

Thanks
David Jasiewicz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by calvis » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:39 pm

Check your PM
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Robbie@FireFold » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:06 pm

PM sent
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by CSharpConsultant » Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:09 pm

Greetings all,

What's the status of this addon? Is it something I could get started on myself or has AbleComerce committed to this addon?

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:20 pm

We are moving forward on this ASAP. It looks like it will be $300 per person. If you want to get in on it, please send me a private message and I will get you all the details.
David Jasiewicz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Robbie@FireFold » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:25 am

Just looking for a demo before I purchase!
Robbie Hodge
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:04 pm

That is the catch 22. We can't develop it without people onboard. The advantage about being on early is that you will have input on how it works. Brad from Web2Market has a scope of work and I have asked him to contact about it.
David Jasiewicz
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by russg » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:24 pm

what's the status on this, count me in for $300

i like the idea where the customer has an option of having their own url for a kickback but we also need a a way to track points based on orders total amount as discussed in my earlier post

let me know, very interested

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Jaz » Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:28 pm

This went to the programmers a while ago. If you want in, please contact Brad at Web2Market.com
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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by snap624 » Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:21 am

A reward/points program where AC keeps track of points earned through purchases and referrals would be great. I agree the points credit needs to have a grace period (to account for returns, chargebacks, etc.). I like russg's suggestions. Incorporating affiliates/rewards for referrals would be good also.

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Re: Customer Retention Tools

Post by Robbie@FireFold » Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:38 pm

Any updates on programming?
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