Tips for Bringing Back Retail Customers for Return Business

Most experts will tell you that it's cheaper to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones. Yet a lot of effort and marketing dollars go into new customer acquisition with small businesses. Does your small business put equal effort into retention of existing customers?

Obviously service-based businesses will rely on retention just by their nature. This is particularly true for service businesses that need continuity. For example, if you contract a bookkeeper to do your monthly bookkeeping chores, you probably won't contract that person to do just one month's work. More likely both you and the bookkeeper will be looking for a long term relationship.

What about retail businesses on the web or on eBay? How do you retain customers like that? They buy your product maybe once on price point and that might be the last you hear from them. How do you get them to come back?

Here are 5 tips for bringing those retail customers back to your website or eBay store:

Follow-up Email - For every transaction, you can send at least 3 emails even if your customer has not opted into your email list. The first would be to acknowledge the order, the second would be the shipping notification, and the third would be the order follow-up. Those are 3 chances to invite the customer back to your website or eBay store.

Rebates & Rewards - Offline retailers are beginning to use rebate programs and they've proven to be very effective. For every $100 spent, the customer gets 'x' dollars in rebates which they can use for future purchases. Adapting this to the web or eBay can just about guarantee return customers

Discount Coupons - Similarly, you can offer your existing customer discounts on future purchases. Let them know that the discount is only for them. How often do you see a nice coupon and it says "new customers only"? How does that make the existing customer feel? Give your existing customers discounts too.

Postcards - You can mail postcards to any customer regardless of whether they have opted into email (opt in email does not apply to postal mail). Postcards are cheaper to send than that full sized letters and you can use them to reach out to your existing customer base.

Superior Customer Service - This one may seem obvious, but it's amazing how many business fall short on customer service. Superior customer service means taking customer service to a higher level. For example, if there's a problem with an order such as something breaking in shipping, let your customer you'll be happy to send them a new one. Yes, that's happy, even if you aren't. Take care of the freight claim behind the scenes, but get your customer taken care of. This level of customer service will earn you repeat satisfied customers.

Be sure to give some attention to keeping your existing customers. Repeat customers are your best customers and they're also the most profitable.