It’s easy to find customers in November and December. The holiday rush keeps consumers buying, and if you package your products with a neat little bow, it instantly becomes a candidate for someone’s Christmas present. But, when the holiday rush is over, will these new customers keep coming back?
If you haven’t taken steps to keep them, probably not. Read on for our top three tips on keeping customers coming back.
1. Make it Personal
Why it Matters:
Customers expect a degree of personalization. If you continually send them information on baby products and they’re childless, you’ll lose their business. Alternatively, if your systems learn about customers and adapt accordingly, you can see a significant uptick in conversions. BMW improved its conversion rate by 30 percent by sending out personalized messaging.
How to do it:
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that adding your customers’ names at the top of the email with a too-sweet greeting is the right way to personalize an email. Instead, use points/rewards systems to track purchases and make recommendations. The best way to make your marketing personalized is by tracking what a customer purchases and placing them into different segments. Then, send out personalized mobile marketing messages, emails and maybe even mailers.
2. Focus on Service
Why it Matters:
About 68 percent of customers leave because of inadequate service. Only 14 percent move on because of a bad product. In any market with any level of competition, service is going to be a key part of the customer experience.
How to do it:
Make customer service a key goal for your organization. Instead of tracking only sales, track customer feedback. Incorporate customer surveys and offer rewards to let them know their voice is valuable to your company.
3. Be the Industry Expert
Why it Matters:
Becoming the expert that your clients always turn to is the ultimate in relationship building. If, every time your customer has a question about your industry they know they can come to you, you’ve built a strong relationship that will keep them coming back.
How to do it:
Blogging will keep customers updated on the latest trends, which will keep them coming back to your site. A solid blog will also help your SEO efforts and help you establish your business as a leader in its field. Blog articles, especially in B2B markets, feed well into social media marketing. Another way to become an expert is by always taking the time to explain your service or product during different touch points in the sales funnel. Customers research before they buy, and if you’re able to teach them as they go, they won’t feel the need to leave your site to do it.
Keeping customers returning after the holidays is all a matter of how you present your business and how you cultivate a relationship with them. If your company is intentional in its pursuit of becoming an industry leader with personalized marketing and great customer service, you’ll add more returning customers each December.
