Improving Customer Acquisition and Retention Using Data with Shanif Dhanani

Salim Omar, CPA chats with special guest Shanif Dhanani—brought to you by the Ecommerce Money Map Podcast.

Who is Shanif Dhanani?

Dhanani is a data scientist, software engineer and is the co-founder and CEO of Apteo. The main purpose of Apteo is to help ecommerce brands personalize their marketing campaigns by predicting what customers will buy next.

Backstory

Dhanani holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from the University of Virginia as well as an MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU. He started his career as a software consultant at Booz Allen—one of the top consulting companies in the world, working in both the public and private sectors. Dhanani's passion is in helping brands optimize the use of their data. He has a strong background in software, AI and data science. 

Dhanani also helped found a company that offered mobile advertising services when mobile apps were gaining traction "We were finding the best places to show ads for specific brands," says Dhanani. Most of his work was targeted at using data to understand how to better advertise to potential clients.

How Can Ecommerce Companies Use Data to Their Advantage?

Dhanani acknowledges that in current times, there is a struggle for ecommerce companies to gain new customers in a cost-effective manner. 

Dhanani advises that ecommerce owners focus not only on client acquisition but on client retention as well. 

"We help our clients solve these two problems-acquisition and retention- by using their data in a very specific way,'' says Dhanani. 

• Data is used to analyze and understand customer behavior so that the seller can forecast at an individual level, what customers are looking to buy.

• We ask ourselves the question: Are they going to come back?

Dhanani uses AI to predict what clients may do next. Ecommerce businesses can use their data to understand customer behavior. This is a guide to what's going to happen next.

• Grouping potential customers
  

"We group customers by using a forecast. If people are likely to buy a red dress, we group them together. Then we provide the brands for the  group of people and help them understand the best way to reach out to these folks," says Dhanani.

• Analyze which products sell well together.
  

"You can group products as a single skew. A lot of our customers have done this because it helps increase the average order value," says Dhanani. 

• Understand what your customers are looking for. 

1. What are they most likely to buy? 
2. How are they likely to buy it?
3. In what order? 

"This information will allow owners to  come up with a higher converting store or, as a marketer, come up with higher converting campaigns," says Dhanani.

Retention and Lifetime Value is What Makes or Breaks a Business

"Most brands have the large majority of their customers buy only one time. This is surprising because a lot of sales can be made from existing customers. It is vital for businesses to be able to continue to sell to their existing customers, especially as the cost of acquisition becomes increasingly higher," says Dhanani.

What Can Businesses Do To Increase Retention?

Dhanani recommends his ebook- Building Relationships With Your Customer to Increase Repeat Purchases.

• Be on your customers mind

The best thing a business can do is be the go-to business for the customer.

• Share your brand story. 

Whatever your brand story is, Dhanani advises that business owners should be sending their brand story out in a drip campaign for the first few months with a new subscriber. This gets customers to understand who you are.

• Campaigns and promotions

Individualised promotions that are personalized will help you be top pick for potential customers.

• Incorporating platforms that show your authenticity

Businesses need to promote themselves in the right ways. The aim should be to form an authentic relationship with their customers. This can be done through email campaigns, social media and SMS.

Should Businesses Use Their Name for Personalized Marketing

According to Dhanani, personalization is not just about using your name. Business owners need to take into account purchasing behavior when addressing their target market.

Ways Businesses Can Use AI to Their Advantage

AI can-

• Create a list of your top customers 
• Design and offer personalized product recommendations

Businesses can use this AI driven data to grow sales and optimize conversion rates through post-purchase, email marketing, SMS marketing, Facebook marketing or onsite.

User Privacy and How It Will Affect Marketing Going Forward

Dhanani states that user privacy is something a lot of people are now starting to take seriously. What this means from marketers is businesses will have less efficacy and poorer performance from the tools that they are currently using. As a marketer you are going to need to start diversifying across different channels. 

"User privacy will also affect the data that you do have. It is going to become crucial for businesses to improve their retention marketing. The focus on retention and repeat purchases will be more intense because businesses can no longer have easy acquisition of customers. Businesses have to focus on existing customers and how to incentivize them to buy more,"says Dhanani.

Final Words of Wisdom from Shanif Dhanani

• Collect the data

Collect your data and put it in one easy to access place. Gather phone numbers and email addresses.

• Use the data

Figure out the best way to use your data and put your plan into action.

Collecting data and then using it can help your business grow exponentially. 

"My ultimate goal is to bring these data and AI techniques to every brand and every company, to help them use their data better," says Dhanani.

The best way to reach Dhanani is through his website - Apteo.co. He can also be found on Shopify, LinkedIn and Twitter

Closing Statement

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