Revealed: Why You Should Invest More in Your Existing Clients on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
This peak season, strategize early, get creative, and have some fun with putting existing customers first. You’re destined to have a successful and engaging holiday season!
Investing in your existing (also known as repeat) customers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be a joy for both of you.
Why, you ask?
Just in time for peak shopping season, we checked customer purchase behavior from last year’s holiday/peak shopping period to predict how customers will behave this year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Simply put, Strategic Services’ in-depth research into how existing and new customers behave shows that prioritizing resources to create the best campaigns for existing customers as opposed to new customers pays off big time.
Customers Who Purchased During Peak Season
Out of all customers who made a purchase on Black Friday last year, 57% were new versus 43% who were existing customers.
Out of all customers who made a purchase on Cyber Monday 2021, 54% were new customers versus 46% who were existing ones.
Though it may seem that new customers are more valuable, existing customers still purchased more items and generated higher overall order amounts as you will see below.
Average Order Amount
On Black Friday 2021, the average spend of existing customers was higher than newly acquired customers. New customers spent $94 on average, while existing customers spent $113 that day.
On Cyber Monday, similarly, new customers spent $91 on average, while existing customers spent $107 on that day.
Average Number of Items Purchased
The average number of items that customers purchased during peak season last year was lower for new customers versus existing ones, being 1.57 versus 1.94 items on Black Friday and 1.55 versus 1.85 items on Cyber Monday, respectively.
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Customer Retention Rates
To discover whether customers who shopped on this day were only one-timers as well as their lifetime value, we looked into their post-purchasing patterns. We checked their purchase activity one month, three months, and six months after Black Friday.
Data shows retention rates were higher for existing customers and that they stay more loyal as they continue to shop. For example, half a year after Black Friday, 33% of existing customers made at least one additional purchase compared to just 16% of new customers who did.
That means existing customers’ repeat purchase rate is twice as high – or double the retention rate of new customers – again proving that these segments are worth so much more. Even just one-month post-Black Friday, retention rates were approximately twice as high for existing customers: 15% versus 8%. Findings were very similar on Cyber Monday.
The Numbers Paint a Clear Picture
New customers tend to purchase at the lower end of the spectrum. In contrast, existing customers spend more. So, make the most of these trends:
Order amount: 17% higher for existing customers
Number of items per order: 19% higher for existing customers
Retention rates: a whopping 116% higher for existing customers
The conclusion? This peak season, invest more in your existing clients so that they invest more in you.
Before Checking Out
Prioritization for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns should put existing customers first rather than creating new customer relationships.
It’s not too late! Pamper your existing customers with better creatives, content, offers, etc., to yield higher revenue. Building your marketing campaigns based on these pillars will ensure your existing customer relationships yield maximum results.
Dafna is a creative marketing content writer and editor who produces strategic content for various online industries. With over ten years of professional writing experience, she helps brands grow and increase profitability, efficiency, and online presence. Dafna holds a B.A. in Persuasive Communications from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).
Roni is a Marketing Research Analyst serving on Optimove's Professional Services team. As the Marketing Research Analyst, Roni specializes in gathering actionable marketing insights through research and analysis of customer data for retail and gaming clients. Roni holds a dual degree in Psychology and Business from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).
