Converting one-time customers into repeat buyers takes on increased importance during a downturn.
Acquiring a single new customer can be tough, but finding ways to reduce friction during shopping and checkout is a proven method of increasing the lifetime value of existing customers.
Important Note: One study found that password difficulties cause nearly 60% of users to abandon their shopping carts before completing a purchase.
“In times of recession, you should be making things easier, not harder,” says Ari Jacoby, CEO and co-founder of Deduce.
Full TechCrunch+ articles are available to members only
Use a discount code TCP PLUS ROUNDUP to save 20% on a one- or two-year subscription
Which begs the question: Do you know how many people signed up for your site last month but failed to verify their email? Well, why not?
If you’re trying to recalibrate online sales, this TC+ guest post has formulas to calculate lifetime lost value (LTV) due to attrition on a monthly and annual basis.
Seriously: If you don’t work to calibrate every system you have, you’re just leaving money on the table.
Thanks for reading,
Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist
Should founders announce reduction rounds? This PR expert says you have nothing to hide
Image Credits: Isr Dora (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
If your home was damaged in an earthquake, would you feel uncomfortable?
Likewise, founders shouldn’t feel embarrassed about accepting funding that lowers their valuation, advises Kate Johnson, VP of PR at BLASTmedia.
“Instead of pretending the downgrade didn’t happen, change your mindset,” she writes.
“You have nothing to hide, and from a PR point of view, no news is not good news. So, focus on adjusting your expectations.”
3 views: Thoughts on Flow
Image Credits: Edwin Remsberg (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Last week, Andreessen Horowitz wrote the largest individual check in the firm’s history, investing $350 million in residential real estate startup Flow.
The kicker? Flow’s founder is Adam Neumann, the former co-founder of WeWork, who resigned and relinquished majority voting control after the company withdrew its IPO filing in September 2019.
In what they describe as “a non-exhaustive list of reasons why Marc Andreessen and Adam Neumann got America’s housing problems wrong,” reporters Tim DeChant, Dominique-Madori Davis and Amanda Silberling share their respective views on the deal:
- Amanda Silberling: Venture capital won’t save us
- Dominique-Madori Davies: Diligence? Are we doing it?
- Tim De Chant: Neumann is right – you can’t force the community
Why the “last click” in ecommerce matters—and how to get it right
Image Credits: selimaxane (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Marketing drives the sales funnel, and product and engineering teams guide the customer experience as they browse and shop.
But who owns your checkout process?
“You may have perfected the top of the funnel, but you’d very likely be missing the gaps at the bottom,” according to Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvila, who shares several strategies for optimizing the checkout process and why it should be led from the top:
For the CMO, the win is ensuring that leads lead to revenue and that a better checkout process leads to returning customers.
To the CFO, the numbers are obvious: a percentage improvement in conversion is stronger than a percentage improvement in overall web traffic.
Surviving the SaaS Tsunami: Optimize Your Technology Stack to Reduce Risk and Free Up Cash Flow
Image Credits: calderal (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Startups that don’t use a vendor management framework to monitor their technology stack are flying in a thick fog: There’s no easy way to know how much they’re spending each month, or on what.
In reality, most IT teams aren’t equipped (or even interested) to manage a recurring software refresh schedule, let alone track costs or efficiencies.
Everyone is looking for places to make incremental improvements: Putting in a dedicated fulfillment or procurement resource can boost your bottom line (and reduce your security risk).