Why Repeat Business?
Getting someone to buy from you for the first time can be an expensive and difficult exercise. Often there are costs involved in this of both time and money, and not to mention the hunt to find them in the first place. Once you have found them, you need to gain their trust and prove that they should invest their hard-earned money with you, and convert them to a sale.
All of these things take time. By encouraging repeat business, you remove the advertising cost and the trust barrier. Your cost to acquire that customer is decreased 10-fold. They already know that your product or service is good, because they have experienced it first-hand. Nurture those customers and encourage them to buy from you a second, third, or hundredth time.
What Can It Do For Your Business?
Understand Your Target Market: Narrowing down your niche can be an involved exercise (check out our recent blog on Targeting Your Customers, but a very necessary one. By looking at the type of customer willing to buy from you again and again, you have a lot of the information at your fingertips. Use this information to understand more about how you can serve your customers better.
Save Money: Advertising can be an expensive exercise no matter which medium you choose. It can be up to 10 times more expensive to bring on a new customer. So, it is far more cost effective to target those that know and trust you. You will also see a better return on your initial advertising investment.
Raving Fans: Repeat customers are happy customers. They will tell people about your business and the service they received from you. Not only is word of mouth free advertising, but it is one of the strongest forms advertising. It is effective because people are hearing about you from someone they trust, and best of all, it’s free.
Increased profit: Generally, the more a customer buys from you, the more they will spend because they know they can trust your brand. That means increased profits for you! The lifetime value of a customer to you, will increase.
Product Expansion: A great way to grow your business is to find more products and services that can be sold to the same customer. The better you know your customers, the better your products and service offerings can evolve to tailor to their needs and you learn more. You already have a relationship established with them, so they will be open to new products that are well suited to them. Telling them about these new products can be as simple as setting up a VIP email list, or sending a newsletter and keeping the communication open with them.
How To Create Great Relationships With Your Customers
The best way to do this, is to think about how you like to be treated. You like to feel like you matter, that you are an actual person, and not just a number. Thank your customers and nurture the relationship you have with them. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to offer them discount either. Providing them with value is the most important.
Letting them know that you value them will certainly encourage their repeat business.
Think of your customers as being in a relationship, and not a one night stand!