You’ve heard the saying, “work smarter, not harder,” but how does that apply to your current customer list?
You’ll be happy to know the hardest part is done: turning a potential buyer into an actual customer. This means they’ll be loyal to you forever, right?
Not so much.
Yes, you’ve successfully gained another satisfied customer. However, they have a lot going on and will forget about you if you don’t reach out every now and then. In fact, keeping up with these people actually saves you money. Finding new customers costs you up to 25 times more than retaining existing ones! Talk about ROI.
There’s a lot to gain in understanding what your customers want from you. Delivering that want right to their inbox earns brownie points for your business. Engaging with customers is a learned skill that results in people looking forward to your emails. These tips and tricks will instantly improve your email communications while also keeping your business fresh in the minds of your current customers.
Be consistent.
Look at how dating works. Two people go on a date and a small bit of trust is established. However, if neither of the two people make an attempt for a second date things fizzle.
The same goes for how you connect with your customers. They’ve already purchased from you, so consider that date one. However, if you don’t make an effort to continue the relationship the spark will fade. This is why consistency is so important when it comes to your customers. Following up means you care, and people like to be cared about.
If your emails randomly pop up in someone’s inbox, they may feel annoyed. It’ll be an unpleasant surprise and make them wonder why you waited so long to communicate with them. Think about how silly that “3-day rule” is in terms of calling someone back. If you value them, let them know and go from there.
The trick here is to be reliable and not annoying. No one wants the stalker who calls/texts constantly to see what’s up. Send out a monthly newsletter or weekly update as a way of saying, “Hi,” and let your customers do the rest. This is a great way to keep in touch with people without being overbearing.
Tip: Ask customers to add your email to their address book. This saves your email from landing in their spam or promotions folders.
Make sure your customers know they’re #1.
As I mentioned before, people like to be cared about. Giving your current customers the chance to opt-in for “inside access” gives them a sense of prestige in being your customer.
This is very easy to do and you’ll find most customers will take you up on that VIP status. If you’re about to announce a new product, service, or special promotion use your customer list to let them know first.
Consider Victoria’s Secret. First of all, they call their card members “angels.” Talk about making your customers feel special. They use this sense of value to offer deals to their cardholders with inside access:
I’m already tempted to head to the closest store and use my credit card to make a purchase.
Here are a couple other ways you can show your customers you care:
- Birthday Club
- “Events” like Cyber Monday or Black Friday deals exclusively available for them
- “Just Because” promo codes and/or coupons
The thing to remember here is to return the value your customers felt towards your business when making a purchase. Something as simple as offering free shipping or a free consultation goes a long way and makes people more likely to continue doing business with you.
Share your knowledge.
Knowledge is power. You’ve built a business around what you know, so why not share it with your customers?
Apartments.com does a great job at this. By looking into problems their customers face, they provide solutions to live a better life:
Renters are limited when it comes to customizing their homes. By narrowing in on one room, they quickly learn how their kitchens can get a makeover that won’t go outside lease restrictions.
Remember to link the piece of information back to your website, like you see in the example above. This allows your customers to revisit your site and potentially look for another product/service that they need.
The big takeaway to emailing your current customers is to remain consistent. This sets the tone for how often they can expect to hear from you. Be it a monthly newsletter, letting them know about an upcoming sale you haven’t publicly announced yet, or simply offering advice for personal growth, your customers have expressed interest in you. It’s up to you to continue the conversation past the first sale.
This is one of the ways Spire Advertising’s Growth Coach program can help small businesses like you. If you’d like some help setting up email campaigns to keep in touch with your current customer base, let us know. We’d be thrilled to help: