The first step in mining your own business for customers is to simply stop trying so hard. It's a lot easier than you think. When we're not spending all of our time and resources looking outside, you can start to look within - which means that the only customer acquisition costs are the ones associated with attracting new buyers from inside your own network of current customers!
Here are some ideas for extracting maximum value from your own customers.
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Offer more products and services.
-Offer customers the ability to redeem their old purchases for a discount on future products.
-Create a loyalty program that rewards repeat buyers with discounts or other perks.
-Start offering subscription services, which can be done either automatically through recurring billing or manually with an email reminder sent out at preselected intervals like every three months.
Make offers to your list more often than usual
Repetition, repetition, repetition! When you talk about your product or service, repeat your message as many times as possible.
You'll be surprised how often people forget things they say in a conversation or email exchange - that's why repetition is so important when we're trying to make an offer. That way even if one person doesn't respond the first time around they may on the second, third or even fourth time of hearing your message.
Communicate consistently
Rather than just targeting a whole untapped market, smart business owners are focusing on the people who already know and trust them - their current customers.
For one thing, it is often cheaper to work with existing customers by using email marketing or social media rather than investing in expensive outbound advertising campaigns that have been proven time and again not to be as effective in securing new, or expanding existing business.
Create VIP groups and memberships with special privileges
Elevating customers status within your business is a great way to further loyalty and create evangelists.
Not only do you offer them special rewards, but by entering into private groups or granting access to exclusive memberships you can get their feedback on new products before they launch (or even give input).
The closer we are able to work with our customers - the ones who have a vested interest in the success of your business - the more engaged they'll be and as a result, we'll both enjoy a higher return on investment.
You can also use your most loyal customers to help you find new ones! Conduct surveys or offer referral rewards for each customer who is referred by someone already within your network.
Let your customers know you reward frequent purchasers as well as high volume purchases
- Offer discounts for a certain amount spent (e.g., "Buy $100 worth of items and receive 20% off")
- Promote loyalty programs with exclusive rewards, points or coupons to encourage continued purchase from your store
The benefits don't stop there! You can also use this same principle in the form of existing product re-marketing.
Identify and focus on the hyper responsive customers and give them more opportunities to spend money with you
- Offer a VIP or loyalty program with perks only available to these select customers
This will not only keep your best and most profitable customers happy but also give them more opportunities for you to upsell!
Create and sell continuity programs, or sell affiliate continuity programs
- Make the offer to your customers that they can set and forget.
i.e., "Buy a year's worth of dog food at once; get an additional three months free!"
This way, you'll be able to gradually build up profitability for both parties as well as create continuity with your customer base which will lead to more longevity and profitability.
Sell renewable products or services
Products or services that can be renewed, basically those that appear to go on forever.
For example: Solar panels, garden products
-These products and services are more cost effective for the customer because they'll never have to pay a large upfront fee. Plus, you can be confident that your business will continue into perpetuity which is great from an investment perspective as well!
Here's how it might look in practice when you're selling renewable products and services.
-When someone comes in to your physical store, or visits your website, tell them about the product or service you offer and then give them an estimate of how much they will spend on it over the next five years. It might be a good idea to also break this down month by month so that people get a better sense for what their return on investment will look like.
Learn about your customers and tailor offers to match their needs and desires.
It might seem like a no-brainer, but it can be easy to forget that telling people about the exact solutions they're looking for right off the bat is an incredibly powerful way of connecting with potential customers. The simpler you make your offer and the more tailored it is to what someone needs or wants - not just what's hot this week.
Communicate frequently with information, education, and even fun stuff
You may feel that your constant communications are an interruption to your customers. But they're not - in fact, this is one of the ways that you can build a relationship with them and earn their trust over time.
It's important to make sure each email has value for the customer: it should be informative (such as information about new items or upcoming sales) or educational (also including "how-to" instructions for using products), but if you want to add something just for fun, do so sparingly and always let people know when you are doing this!
This will also help prevent your emails from getting marked as spam by certain internet service providers.
Incentivize greater usage
Would you do "something for nothing"? So why would you think that your loyal customers think differently. Fun based incentives are a great way to reward your most loyal customers.
-The more time you invest in finding ways to use the product or service, the greater will be their loyalty and willingness to purchase something else from you later on down the road. And don't forget that incentives need not always revolve around money - they can also take other forms like gift cards or items with special meaning for them.
-Another idea is when people make an initial purchase, offer them coupons good for discounts on future purchases (especially if it's been awhile since their last one). That gives them some extra incentive to come back sooner rather than later!
Become the "go to" resource for your customer’s product solutions
Find ways to be that go-to resource for the products and services you offer. This can come in a variety of forms including writing blog posts on your company's website.
Finally - yes finally...
Finally, don't forget that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer great places to communicate on a regular basis with product offerings, company insights even quizzes.
So, what should you do?
So, what should you do? The answer is simple. Rather than spending all your resources trying to convince people who don't know you well enough yet or instead of competing with other companies for these potential customers' dollars - you should spend more time mining into what's already working: yourselves!
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