It’s funny how most business owners continually create strategies to acquire new customers instead of also creating strategies and activities to sell to existing ones.
The most important thing to remember before you create something new and shiny is to think about your current customers and past customers, and what they could use in the next step of their “journey” with your business.
The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% (as opposed to 5-20% for a new one). Here are 3 quick and inexpensive ways to help with conversion.
Pay attention to your email campaigns and leverage personalisation
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal for reaching out to existing customers. The beauty of email lies in its ability to be highly personalised. Use the data insights you have, through tags in your CRM to segment your audience based on their past purchases, preferences, and behaviour. Then, tailor your messages with offers that resonate with their individual needs or interests. It could be things like a special discount, early bird offers with exclusive bonuses, an exclusive sneak peek at a new product, or valuable content related to their interests. Personalised emails can significantly boost your conversion rates in an inexpensive way to a warm audience, without putting a dent in your budget or profits.
Introduce a loyalty program
Loyalty programs are a win-win for both businesses and customers. There are so many ways you can create a loyalty program in your small business even if its service based, or product based. Stats don’t lie. In 2023, the global market size for loyalty management was $5.57 billion. The worldwide loyalty management market is forecast to reach $28.65 billion by 2030.
Creating things like subscription programs, for example memberships, giving your existing customers a discount compared to one-off purchases or offering exclusive services not available to non-subscribers are great ideas. Referring-a-friend is also an awesome way to create loyalty as well as reward past or current customers by giving them discounts or special offers.
The key to a successful loyalty program is simplicity and value. Signing up needs to be straightforward and rewards needs to be genuinely enticing. It doesn’t have to be costly to create a loyalty program, but you do have to think outside the box, make your customers feel valued and more importantly individually recognised by you.
Engage and reward on social media
Social media is not just a platform for acquisition; it’s also a potent tool for retention. Engage with your existing customers by creating content that encourages interaction, be it through contests, polls, or user-generated content campaigns. Highlighting customer testimonials or featuring user-generated content not only provides social proof but also makes your customers feel appreciated, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases. Your customers continually need a reason to trust you, and social media is the perfect platform to showcase this to the world. Exclusive social media offers can also drive quick conversions at super low costs. The know, like, trust factor is where it’s at for repeat purchases.
Hayley Osborne, Digital Marketing Expert, www.hayleyosborne.com
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