Any small business owner can tell you that the real success of a business depends on repeat customers. Whether it’s the corner store or whether it’s an online retailer, being able to bring people back to the table is essential. Repeat business brings you all of the profits of new business with very little marketing cost or effort.
Here are five keys to retaining your customers:
1. Follow up. The most obvious, and probably the most important way to make sure former customers come back as current and future customers is to follow up. Whether it’s an occasional email that says “hey, we’re still here,” or a coupon that you send only to former customers, you need to keep your business on their mind. Of course, there is such a think as oversaturation; sending two or three emails a day to every former customer is a good way to make sure you lose them all.
2. Commit to service. Running a business is, in many ways, all about the service. Sometimes, even when you don’t have to or when you’re in the right, it’s important to give your customer the benefit of the doubt. Letting someone return a product that isn’t defective, or offering to pay for the return shipping might cost your business a few dollars. In the long run, however, you’re more likely to build a long-term relationship with that customer if you are willing to take the hit in the name of service.
3. Build relationships with your customers. This doesn’t mean, of course, talking directly with every customer. Especially if you’re in a volume drop shipping type of a business, it’s just not practical to think that you’ll talk to every customer, email every customer directly, or have any other direct contact. However, there are plenty of ways you can foster a relationship. You can, for example, create an online forum or a blog for your business. When you interact with customers on a forum or a blog, you’re interacting with more than just the person who’s posting; you’re interacting with every customer that ever reads that post. By having interaction like this with just a few customers but having it in a very public way, you’re interacting with many customers.
4. Listen to your customers. Another part of being able to communicate with your customers is just to listen. Ask them for feedback. Consider using inexpensive online surveys to figure out what your customers are thinking. Ask your customers how you could improve your business, and ask them what other products or services they might like to see you offer.
5. Do good. Social awareness can have an amazing affect on your customers. As customers become more and more aware of issues, from the environment to poverty to war, taking a stand and contributing to the betterment of your world can really draw people to, and back to, your business. While it’s important to avoid issues that are horribly partisan as you may drive away customers, having a drop-off for Coats for Kids or offering a donation button on your web site to help relieve poverty in Africa lets people know that you care.
If you can master these five keys, you’ll find that customers keep coming back again and again, and that your business will grow like never before.
Recent Comments