Many companies focus all their marketing on attracting new customers. While this does add to the growth of a business, the return customer is just as important. Whether you own an accounting firm or a coffee bar, here are seven tricks that could help to convince customers to return.
Create a Memorable Brand
Creating a brand that stands out will ensure that customers remember you. Branding is all about creativity and salience. Your name needs to stick out and your logo and color scheme must be vibrant. More importantly, your brand should have a clear message. Don’t be afraid to do an overhaul if you think your company branding fails to make an impression. You can determine whether your brand needs to be altered by conducting market research such as creating surveys or organizing a focus group.
Introduce Loyalty Discounts
A great way to bribe customers into returning is offering them rewards such as discounts and freebies. You could offer a simple loyalty discount to anyone that returns. If keeping track of customers isn’t that easy, another option could be to introduce membership points or a loyalty card. Loyalty cards are the easiest option and can be produced for cheap at sites like stressfreeprint.co.uk – these are cards in which you collect stamps every time you make a purchase. Membership schemes may be better for retailers with large inventories, gyms or hotels – you can offer discounts after a certain amount of visits by allowing customers to collect points.
Respond Courteously to Negative Feedback
You can even turn your unhappy customers into return customers. This has to do with how you respond to criticism. If a customer has had a bad experience, apologize and offer a discount if they return. Some customers may demand a full refund, but many will be happy to accept a return discount which gives you an opportunity to convert them into happy loyal customers.
Allow Customer to Join a Mailing List
Encouraging customers to join a mailing list allows you to send updates and news on promotions, which could serve as a reminder of your business and entice customers into returning. This could be include physical letters, emails or texts. It’s important when adding people to your mailing list that you do so with their permission. Sites like sgwidget.com/sendgrid-double-opt-in can help you to set up an opt in process. You can then use paper contracts and website pop-ups to draw people’s attention to your mailing list. Make sure to also allow people to opt out if they no longer want to be a part of your mailing list.
Encourage Customer to Follow You on Social Media
Social media can serve a similar purpose to a mailing list, updating followers of company news and updates. By encouraging customers to follow you on social media, they’ll see all your posts on their wall and it may jog their memory and urge them to use your service again. Using photos, memes and infographics can help your posts to stand out more. Polls and competitions can also be great tools on social media for engaging followers. When it comes to getting customers to follow you in the first place, make it an essential part of your branding – this could include printing web addresses or QR codes for your social media pages on signs and business cards, as well as adding plug-ins on your company website that allow users to follow you with the click of a button.
Develop a Customer App
You may also be able to encourage return customers by building a customer app. This could be anything from a loyalty card app to a catalogue app. By having your app downloaded on their phone, your customers will be forever reminded of your company every time they open their phone. There are free app builders that you can use online such as https://www.appmakr.com/.
Offer a Good Customer Experience
The most guaranteed way to encourage return customers is to offer good customer service. If you go above and beyond to make your customers happy, they will appreciate and remember this and they’ll be more inclined to return. The most basic examples of good customer services are smiling, being time-efficient and being attentive to detail. You’ll know that your customer service is a problem if you’re constantly getting complaints or negative reviews. In such cases, take action by notifying your staff as well as reassessing your own customer service skills.
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