Don’t tell all the other agencies who love flashy adverts and clever lead generation techniques, but in most business, Repeat Customers are actually much more important than new ones.
You don’t need complex CRMS or sophisticated email marketing systems to get repeat customers. There are plenty of simple ways to get started.
Is it worth it?
If you sell cars, wills or annual tax returns for example, you would not benefit from using these methods purely because you business is based on referrals
However, if you are in a retail-based, service-led or web-centric business, then having an effective Repeat Customer Procedure will very quickly produce results.
Why targeting repeat customers is a brilliant idea.
1. You’ve already spent the money finding them.
Over the last 12 months, how much money have you spent finding all those new customers? Doesn’t that indicate a pretty bad use of money because you’ve already spent a fortune grabbing the attention of the new customers that you got 12 month prior. Work with what you’ve got, those customer have already built a little trust with you so why not build a better relationship with them.
If you want to save your cash (which I’m sure you will), implementing a RCP (Repeat Customer Procedure) will help you do exactly that.
2. It costs less to get them to buy again.
Not dissimilar to the above point, but if they have bought from you before, it’s highly likely you have at least one way of getting in touch with them again. Even if it’s by surface mail, then its less than £1 to print & post a letter, and you’re many times more likely to get a customer to buy again using this method than you are by targeting cold process in a direct mail campaign – yet, as a nation, we spend millions on Direct mail every year. (We have products that will automatically send out templates of letters at pre-programmed intervals for as little as 60p per letter)
3. They complain less and send fewer returns.
First time buyers are the main source of resource-drain in a business, both winning the custom and then servicing them. The beauty of repeat customers is that they already know how you operate, and have already agreed and abidd by your payment processes, so fewer trust issues stand between them and a sale. Of course, when you get customers who do kick up a fuss, then you can exclude them from receiving further communications, meaning they stay one-time customers, and you quietly develop a source of reliable, easy to manage, repeat customers
4. They are more likely to refer.
The more a customer buys from you or uses your services, the more they build trust with you. Which is why they will then refer.
5.They are more likely to buy more from you.
The buying process includes very definite reasons AGAINST buying and reasons FOR buying. Trust can dramatically cancel out the negative reasons. When coupled with a cast-iron returns policy, like Amazon & Ikea (did you know you can take any piece of furniture back, no matter how old, and if it’s defective or breaks they’ll give you refund?), then repeat buying becomes easy for the consumer, and fanatically profitable for you.