> Chapter 6.5
RFM model: Potential Lovers
Read this chapter of the CVO Guide to learn more about the RFM model’s Potential Lovers, a group with orders above your Average Order Value.
Table of Contents
The previous chapter of our CVO guide focused on Flirting customers and we presented some of the tactics you can use to generate consistency in their behavior.
This time, we want to explore another promising RFM segment – Potential Lovers. Let’s see what differentiates them from Lovers and how to nurture them into your most valuable customers.
Potential Lovers represent a segment of active customers who have placed a couple of high-value orders (Monetary Value 2-5) and the reason they are not Lovers yet is reflected by their Recency and Frequency scores (Recency 3-5; Frequency 3-5)
The good news about this segment is that their orders are above your Average Order Value, so they’re definitely worthy of your attention. The bad news is that they might never become Lovers without a consistent strategy. Your goal is to improve their Recency and Frequency score, but also make sure that their Monetary Value score stays as high as possible.
How to transform this RFM group into Lovers?
With accurate data and a focus on customer-related insights, you can develop the right mix of tactics that help you transform Potential Lovers into Lovers, increasing the number of your most valuable customers.
Loyalty program
Do you have a loyalty program designed especially for Potential Lovers? Are they aware of your program? If you didn’t mention the benefits of being a loyal customer early in the onboarding process or when they were newly acquired customers, it’s not too late to communicate it now.
Learn from your most engaged RFM groups: Lovers and Soulmates. See exactly what in your loyalty program made them click and generated repeat, frequent acquisition. Also, find out what made them purchase more from your store.
Remix the classics to get an effective blend of loyalty-generating tactics: rewards, tiers, perks, gamification, exclusive/ VIP benefits.
How to do this?
Find what generates repeat customers for your eCommerce store by looking at customer behavior-related insights in REVEAL. If you want to communicate your loyalty program via email, the integration of Reveal with Klaviyo and Sendgrid allows you to send the right messages to the right segment, with customer lists that are periodically updated.
Personalized emails
Personalized messages can create a special bond between your brand and your customers, one that has the potential to generate repeat, more frequent purchases. Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to get your message to your audience and can help you take the “Potential” out of “Potential Lovers”.
Your eCommerce store generates plenty of data to help you know exactly what to say to your Potential Lovers and to make them feel special. Make one step further and ask them about their needs, preferences, and feedback on their latest purchase experience.
How to do this?
REVEAL allows you to identify who your Potential Lovers are, then the integration with Klaviyo and Sendgrid allows you to send the personalized message to the right group. REVEAL pushes a lot of valuable data about your customer to your CRM, so use everything you know about them to create the most personal message.
Personalized offers across channels
Nurturing Potential Lovers is easier when they see that your brand really cares about their needs, preferences, and opinions. Use existing data about Potential Lovers or similar groups, like Lovers, to tailor offers that convert.
As you’re still learning about this group, you might want to test personalized offers across different channels to identify where your customers are more likely to see and explore your offer.
How to do this?
You can look into your customer reports in REVEAL to discover their favorite products and the worst performing items. Also, remember to check their feedback from customer experience surveys.
Cross-selling and upselling
As the customers in this group are still new to your e-store, you can help them get more value and purchase from your brand by cross-selling and upselling items. Don’t be afraid you’re getting too salesy. You won’t, as long as you keep your message customer-centric and help them make an informed decision.
Cross-selling is great to show complementary products for previously purchased items. Upselling is a great opportunity to help customers choose the higher-priced items when they oscillate between two options because of acquisition costs.
How to do this?
REVEAL helps you understand the buying habits of Potential Lovers (and Lovers) and see the items, brands and categories that are most popular among these RFM groups. Then, with Explore, you can include these products you’re planning to up-sell or cross-sell in the add-to-cart page, during the checkout process or as a pop-up.
Subscription-based purchases
Let your Potential Lovers know about the option of subscription-based purchases and present all the benefits that come with this alternative. For you, is the perfect opportunity to create a buying habit and increase their score so they can upgrade to the next segment – Lovers.
It’s a tactic that helps both sides. Your Potential lovers will never forget to buy items and your store’s stocks are more predictable so you can address the most loyal customers.
How to do this?
REVEAL’s features combined with Shopify’s new capability helps you detect your Potential Lovers and show them the subscription-based alternative in the checkout stage. The integration with Shopify allows you to add the RFM group tags generated in Reveal directly into your Shopify CRM.
Time-sensitive deals & limited edition products
Because of their lower scores in Recency and Frequency, time-sensitive deals are a great way to activate Potential Lovers. This tactic helps you increase demand during lower and slower seasons. As long as the offer is personalized, you can generate new purchases based on urgency.
Limited edition products create a new purchase occasion for your Potential Lovers and the sense that they are among the few customers to enjoy a rare product. They might as well share their unique acquisition with their community, so you get more eyes on your e-store.
How to do this?
Set a bigger discount for the items, brands, and categories that did not perform that well during the full season. Identify these products in REVEAL by looking at low-performing products in Top Brand, Top Brands, and in Catalogue. To signal your discount or limited edition campaigns, use EXPLORE features such as website overlays and personalization.
User Experience and Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Make your Potential Lovers heard with individual customer satisfaction and customer experience surveys. Capture the most honest and fresh feedback by sending them a survey right after they placed an order and after a delivery is completed.
Their answers might reveal the reasons why they are not Lovers yet and what you need to change in their experience to encourage them to become loyal. Apply what you have learned about Potential Lovers to increase the chances of lasting relationships.
How to do this?
Connecting REVEAL with EXPLORE allows you to automatically match your RFM groups and trigger a survey using the dedicated builder. You can also measure NPS score pre and post-delivery by connecting REVEAL with Klaviyo or Sendgrid. The NPS survey can be created from templates and you can embed the survey in an email that will be sent automatically.
How to bring more Potential Lovers
- Nurture customers in other groups defined by the RFM model: New Passion/ Flirting/ Platonic Friends/ About to Dump You. Look at their RFM score to make an informed decision about the tactics that are more likely to work for nurturing purposes.
- Create a lookalike audience based on the Potential Lovers and Lovers groups. Use advertising platforms to target and attract similar people to your customer base. Insights from REVEAL help you use the paid media budget wisely, increasing effectiveness.
- Create RFM marketing campaigns by reiterating what worked best for the Potential Lovers and Lovers groups. Use insights generated by the different tools you’re using for your store and design data-driven campaigns to generate offers your customers want and to get the most out of your efforts.
REVEAL will help you identify all those subtle differences between your Lovers and Potential Lovers so you can treat each RFM group differently and prepare the right tactics for the right segment.
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Stay tuned for our next chapter where we continue to write about another RFM group: Platonic Friends!
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