A Guide To Keeping Customers Coming Back For More
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If you’ve recently started up a small business, you will have already have had to go through marketing and advertising to attract new customers to your store. As tricky as that all is, keeping your customers coming back can be just as tricky. Humans are a generally curious species, so if we hear of something new, like the launch of a new business, we are often more than willing to go and have a look around. This, however, doesn’t mean that the hundreds of people that showed up on launch day are going to become loyal customers over night. Instead, it’s your job to turn them into loyal customers, and hopefully, this short guide will help you out.
Be Savvy With Social Media
Social media is a godsend for small businesses and can help you out with a lot of the other things on this list. Social media can help you keep in touch with your customers, and hear their complaints, as well as their praises. It can also keep them up to date on any special offers or competitions that you may be having, as well as the launch of any new products. Just be sure you don’t become a nuisance, as many people will be quick to unfollow you if they see you to be only posting ”spam”.
Listen To Your Customers
With websites like SimpleSat, working out your customers of satisfaction is easy. However, keeping your customers satisfied can be easy too. Simply listening to what your customers have to say about you and your business, whether it be good or bad, shows that you care about your customers and their views and opinions. If customers have any complaints, you should always have someone available in-store, online, and by phone to listen to them, and try to help out. A simple apology goes a long way, especially when it’s not often offered by big companies that prefer to use voice mail systems to collect their complaints. By having a real person available to try to fix any problems, a customer will feel much more at ease and feel like you actually care about their issue. It also means that you may be able to sort out some sort of deal with the customer, like a freebie or some vouchers. Customers who feel as though their complaints have been dealt with properly and are satisfied with the outcome are much more likely to return to your store.
Good Value For Money
You could be the nicest business owner on the planet, but unless all of your customers are made of money, they won’t pay through the roof for a product that they can easily get cheaper from somewhere else. Try using deals like “buy one get one half price”, or offer a price match to other stores in the area. You don’t have to offer products at dirt cheap prices, but you need to show your customers that you care about them just as much, if not more than the profit you are going to gain from them.
Be Surprising
Everyone likes a nice surprise, and so your store should be no different. Offering something free to a person on their birthday is a lovely way to make them feel special, and what’s more, it makes your store rememberable too. Similarly, offering something to your one hundredth and one thousandth customer also shows that you care about their custom, and want them to return. These free offerings don’t have to be huge, or cost you a lot of money – Something as simple as a birthday cupcake, or a one hundredth customer party hat will be enough to put a smile on any of your customer’s faces. Offering discounts or special offers for loyal customers is also a great surprise and will ensure your customers come back to receive their surprise. A simple stamp card can keep track of a person’s number of visits, allowing you to offer bigger and better surprises the more times they come into store.
Have The Right Employees
There is absolutely no point in you being the nicest person on the planet if you plan to hire boring or unpleasant staff to serve your customers. One of the biggest complaints a customer has tends to be about the person that has served them, as they are the first and last impression of your store. If you have hired someone that is snappy with the customers or doesn’t engage with them as you are trying to, they are not the person that you want working at your store. Instead you should hire someone with a friendly, positive attitude, has an outgoing personality, and actually cares about the store as much as you do. Don’t put something that you’ve worked so hard on in the hands of someone that only wants to do their job, get their paycheck, and leave – They are not the sorts of people that are going to convince your customers to return to your store again and again.
Do Something For The Community
If you are opening a small business in your local area, customers are much more likely to return to your store if they see you doing something good for the community. This shows that you are bothered about much more than money and that you are a genuine, caring person. If you own a toy store, donate some toys to a hospital around Christmas time. If you own a cafe, you could donate some food to a food bank – You could even take it one step further than that and offer free meals for the homeless. Little things like this won’t cost you mega bucks but will show a lot of heart, and so people would be a lot more likely to shop with you.
I certainly hope that these tips will help to keep your small business thriving for a long time. If you play your cards right, you could have different generations of the same family visiting you for years to come. Showing you care isn’t particularly difficult, especially in this day and age when customers complaints are so easily brushed under the rug, but it will ensure you have loyal customers that will keep coming back for more.
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