Omniconvert’s Valentin Radu On Mastering Customer Value Optimization

Shifts in ecommerce

• As businesses recognize that long-term success depends on building strong, loyal customer relationships, they are shifting their strategies to place customers at the center of their operations
• Brands can now leverage data in their marketing efforts to drive profitability. Meaning it (literally) pays to have data back your messaging
• Adopting an omnichannel strategy encompassing multiple sales channels and touchpoints is crucial when building a sustainable retail brand. While operating direct-to-consumer has its advantage, exclusively selling online may not be enough

The CLV: CAC ratio for higher profits

• You need to know what you’re optimizing for (no exceptions)
• It’s not enough to raise revenue. You also need to retain those customers
• Generally speaking, if you want to acquire market share, you need a 2:1 or 1:1 CLV: CAC ratio
• “If the CLV to CAC ratio is going upward, that’s great. Keep it at a lower trend and reinvest the profit to acquire market share if you are after market share.”

The 4-data framework to product optimization

• “Let’s say you have 4 scores, right? You have the sales figures, the demand figures, the customer experience, and the behavior figures. So, having high scores on all of them, you will find the true gems.”
• If your sales volume is low, you need to figure out why. Is it due to the lack of proper marketing efforts? Low demand in the market? Something else?
• You can determine why your sales volume is low by pushing products differently and tracking the right data (for instance, sales, buyer behavior data, and demand)

Fail faster to achieve profitability quicker

• Increasing prices is an easy way to improve gross margins; however, it is not always the best strategy
• Experiment with different ethical pricing strategies to find the price point that resonates with your customers without sacrificing profitability
• Ethical pricing strategies refer to pricing methods that are fair and just to all stakeholders. This goes beyond simply following the law. Some unethical pricing strategies include price fixing, price discrimination, and collusion.
• “The faster you can experiment, the faster you eliminate possible hypotheses for growth. Then, the faster you get to become way more profitable and achieve scalability.”

The ecommerce growth formula

• What metric should you be optimizing? The answer lies in your data
• Analyzing key metrics (such as traffic, conversion rate, average order value, gross margins, purchase frequency, and customer retention rate) should tell you if you need to put more money into ads or improve the funnel for conversion
• “What we are seeing is that most companies are into the habit of spending money on ads, tweaking their existing product assortment without thinking of launching new categories or brands or expanding to other markets. And that’s a pity.”
• You have to focus on initiatives that improve your key metrics instead of experimenting with others that might not yield the same results

The relationship between the purchase cycle to CLV

• It is important to align experiments with the purchase cycle. For instance, fast-moving consumer goods can be tested rapidly. In these cases, CLV should focus on short time intervals. This allows validation for CVO experiments quickly.
• Brands with longer purchase cycles should focus on acquisition and leverage existing lost customers via discounts
• “If your [cash flow] is tight, you can’t do long-term things. If you’re too short-term oriented, you are not going to do the long-term impact initiatives.”

How to use qualitative data to drive growth

• A solid omnichannel brand needs to be customer-centric and harness the power of customer feedback
• Gathering customer feedback allows you to understand whether you have a marketing problem, a price problem, or an operational issue (for instance, product quality)
• Fix the operational hiccups first (for example, if your product packaging is easily damaged) before improving marketing or launching new products
• “Do your job first. It’s all about having a smooth customer journey.”

Become more customer-centric by breaking down silos

• Valentin believes every company needs to break down its silos
• Marketing, operations, and customer experience teams must collaborate to ensure an effective and unified brand message

Read the first chapter of Valentin’s new book for free

• In his upcoming book, The CVO Revolution, Valentin condenses all his experience helping retail brands unlock data-driven growth into a few hundred pages
• As a former ecommerce entrepreneur, he’s found that all valuable progress is preceded by a struggle. But success is about how you cope with that struggle and use it to make things happen

👉 Read the first chapter of Valentin’s book for free.