This is the concluding part of ‘eFolly to Profipoly: The Art and Science of eCommerce Profits’ originally discussed in ‘Mystery of the Missing Profits.’ In the second part of this series, I discussed the building blocks required for the journey from eFolly to Profipoly and the frictions encountered during the customer journey. Explore how to triumph over challenges, especially in the context of a slim margin of profits.
In this concluding part, I will talk about how marketers can offset the impact of this eFolly and foster rewarding relationships with existing customers.
Marketing Journey
eFolly is a myopic focus on new customer acquisition over nurturing existing customers. It often results in squandered resources and overlooked growth opportunities. However, a fresh wave of transformative ideas and innovations is at hand for marketers. These integrated solutions solve the funnel frictions by combining technology, strategic insights, and an understanding of customer behavior. They assist marketers in offsetting the eFolly impact and fostering a rewarding relationship with existing customers.
At the heart of these innovative concepts is refining transactional interactions and reconceptualizing how we engage with customers. They provide a roadmap to transcend ephemeral conversion goals and create a robust, customer-centric ecosystem prioritizing long-term relationships. Their objective is to go beyond acquisition and follow through with retention, loyalty, and advocacy, maximizing the customer’s lifetime value.
These concepts curate bespoke customer journeys and experiences by predicting and executing next best actions and enabling in-channel conversions that remove the need for redirects and clickthroughs.
By capitalizing on them, marketers can transition from the single-minded pursuit of new customers to maximizing the lifetime value of their existing customers, expanded with low-acquisition approaches.
These transformational ideas encompass a range of strategies: resurrecting the role of email as a vibrant and interactive communication channel, constructing large customer models, and a digital twin for each customer. The outcome is heightened customer engagement and reimagined loyalty beyond transactional confines.
These groundbreaking ideas and innovations implement a paradigm shift, prompting marketers to pivot away from established practices, making them rethink their strategies and recalibrate their objectives to reflect a holistic view of customer relationship management.
This shift from the costly eFolly of ignoring customers to a sustainable Profipoly through customer retention, referrals, and loyalty, forms the crux of a formidable strategy for building an enduring business.
Changing mindsets
The eFolly-to-Profipoly journey is about driving change in mindsets and harnessing the potential of innovations. It calls for a significant realignment of core business philosophies and moving away from a culture of relentless acquisition to one that is more equitable and values customers equally.
It is also about realizing that growth and profitability are not the result of relentlessly looking for new customers but of transforming each customer into a lifelong advocate. Rather than forcing a change, this results in a natural progression leading to a sustainable, profitable future.
This shift from strategy to a way of life calls for CEOs and CMOs-turned-CPOs (Chief Profitability Officers) to think entrepreneurially and champion the transition. In this metamorphosis, the essence of real business growth and ‘built-to-last’ endurance lies.
If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, you can start by reading Part 1 here.
