We talk a lot about customer retention because it’s one of the most important metrics for growing your eCommerce business. In fact, businesses who leverage data to increase customer retention rates enjoy considerable growth, because they wisely use the knowledge gained from their eCommerce data to plan advanced marketing campaigns that improve the customer experience and yield higher returns.

However, many retailers haven’t caught onto the benefits of retention marketing. According to the 2016 Retention Marketing Report, more than half of the retailers who were surveyed (55%) see less than 20% retention rates. Although this amount is slightly less than last year, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

Also based on this study, retention seems to be especially difficult for small retailers. The majority of small retailers surveyed (61%) are seeing retention rates less than 20%. Additionally, 16% of the survey respondents did not know their retention rate, with 44% of this group being small retailers.

Small businesses who understand the importance of retention have a great opportunity for growing customer loyalty, and ultimately, their bottom line.

A great example of this is pet n’GO, a Mexican-based online retailer specializing in pet food and goods. Pet owners are a passionate and dedicated group, so capturing their loyalty is essential for pet n’GO to succeed. Because this audience is also a niche group, retaining customers is of high importance to pet n’GO. CEO Alex Gonzalez explains, “Our business model relies on customer retention. Since we are willing to pay a high CPA (cost per acquisition), we need to ensure that our retention is at its best to make a profit on that consumer in the medium and long run.”

To achieve these customer retention goals, pet n’GO employs lifecycle marketing campaigns including post-purchase, cart recovery, win-back and best customer messages. Since they began using this data-driven marketing approach, pet n’GO has increased repeat buyers 47%. By harnessing the power of data-driven marketing, pet n’GO is able to build buyer loyalty early and grow customer value over time.

Download the pet n’GO case study to learn more about their lifecycle marketing strategy.

For other valuable insights about customer retention in the eCommerce industry, read the 2016 Retention Marketing Survey.