You worked night and day to secure customers galore. They came, they saw, they bought. But the single purchase, unless the product is a fully crewed yacht, seldom yields enough to keep you in the chips. Profits accrue best to those who sell most. The goal of every revenue-conscious brand, therefore, should be to increase the number of transactions – the number of times customers plunk down their hard-earned bucks in exchange for your must-have merchandise.
The one-purchase customer becomes a repeat customer only through meticulous and calculated persuasion. One of the leading persuaders is friendly reach-out. Maintain consistent, persistent contact with members of your customer list – assuming, of course, you were diligent enough to maintain this important record. If you haven’t, scramble your forces in an all-out effort to find and identify the folks who bought. Digging into this list, the savvy marketer has a ready destination for important correspondence such as emails and postcards. These known buyers typically are much more receptive than random targets.
Don’t imagine customers will keep you top of mind. You’d be lucky to occupy the bottom of their minds. Most likely you’re nowhere to be found in their cerebral landscape. Customers, especially during the holiday season, are preoccupied with other matters. Consistent correspondence will place you in their field of vision, right there between in-laws and cold remedies.
The content of this correspondence is crucial. One of the best topics to cover is product variety. Let them know what’s in the store. Customers often are surprised by merchandise they never imagined you carried. “I didn’t know you sold goldfish hats, too! I thought it was just gloves. Put me down for a hundred in assorted colors!” Not the typical order size, mind you. Nevertheless, any additional sale is a bottom-line bonus. Revealing your wide selection facilitates this positive outcome.
To strengthen your outreach, treat your customers to a free sample of your latest commercial offering. Nothing is more persuasive than an opportunity to sit in, sit on, touch, taste, stretch, or throw whatever it is you’re selling to the world.
There are two possible outcomes of product sampling: Glowing feedback (easily plastered across your website) and potential purchases. OR dissatisfied howls. In which case, you can safely cross the malcontents off your list.
If you have any questions or comments about increasing the number of customer transactions, or about any other brand-related topic, feel free to send them our way.