In a challenging economy characterized by decreased consumer spend and an ultra-competitive online environment, e-commerce retailers are working to maximize revenue from existing clients rather than rely on new business, according to a new report from Aberdeen Group.

The report, Online Customer Loyalty: Converting Occasional Shoppers into a Loyal Consumer Base, pulls from surveys of more than 100 enterprises done between August and October. The purpose of the survey was to determine the factors that lead companies to implement or consider implementing formal customer loyalty programs.

In analyzing results, Aberdeen used two key performance criteria to distinguish best-in-class companies from industry average and laggard companies: a current online customer conversion rate of 20 percent and a year-over-year customer retention rate of 22 percent.

Among best-in-class performers, 71 percent are tracking customer loyalty redemption, 61 percent are tracking customer loyalty satisfaction and 44 percent have incentives for repeat customer. The Aberdeen reports lists a number of steps that average and laggard performers can take to reach best-in-class status. 

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