Loyalty Programs May Keep Customers Coming Back – But First You’ve Got to Earn their TrustWritten by Julia Hyde
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Accurate Billing: We all know mistakes happen. But when you make a billing error or you overcharge, you immediately lose credibility. Add to that time is takes for a customer to contact you to complain or get you to adjust bill, and you may well have lost a future sale – and potential sales of friends and family they’ve complained to. Hassle-free refunds: We’ve all been there. For some reason we change our minds about a product, or it doesn’t work properly, or it’s not quite what we expected. And we want our money back. Make sure your customers know this is an easy process, up front. 2. Obtain Customer Information If you want your loyalty program to succeed you must obtain background information from your customers. A program that only requires a name, address, and proofs of purchase isn’t building a long-term knowledgeable relationship with them. And it makes sense that a customer who will take time to complete an enrollment form is going to be more interested in product than a casual purchaser. When designing your enrollment form make sure you get information on product usage, purchasing habits, attitudes etc. That way you can tailor your products and services to your customer’s specific needs. And build a database of customers who actually want a long-term relationship with your company. Keep Communicating One of easiest ways to keep customers loyal is to establish on going communication. This can be in form of emails promoting special offers, letters announcing new products, electronic or print newsletters or even offering educational materials. Another good way of continuing communication is to send them something useful with your company name on it. These simple, inexpensive gifts keep your name in front of a customer, and help to keep them loyal. Need some help thinking up a loyalty program for your business? Here are some suggestions. Gift certificates: Offer your customers a gift certificate when they spend a certain amount of money. For example, if they buy $200 worth of goods during a six-month period offer them a $25 gift certificate. Offer point programs: Give your customers points for every $10 or so they spend. When they’ve acquired a certain amount of points they can exchange them for selected goods or services. Free Shipping: This incentive is a sure-fire winner for mail order and online companies. Offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount or on future orders. Communications: Newsletters, pamphlets, direct mailings, postcards, magazines, white papers etc. All these can be used to increase customer loyalty. They don’t need to include a special offer or discount, but it will help. Properly implemented loyalty programs are a long-term marketing strategy that take a lot of work and commitment. But, getting new customers takes a lot of work too. So, it makes sense to do everything you can to make sure that every one of those customers keeps coming back time and time again, and recommends you to others.
Julia is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in advertising, search engine optimization and search engine marketing services. To learn more about how Julia can help boost your company's profits visit her site at www.juliahyde.com. You may also like to sign up for Marketing Works! Julia's monthly ezine. Visit www.juliahyde.com/form.html to sign up or email Julia at mailto:info@juliahyde.com for details.
| | Making a Hit with Your Marketing CampaignWritten by Susan Friedmann
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Too Good to Miss Create an offer that can't be refused. This may be a limited time offer (the expiration should never be longer than 60 days), or an offer that sets you apart from your competition, such as a better location or a bigger booth size with early sign up. Whatever offer, incentive has to be sufficiently appealing to inspire immediate action. Remember that there's no point in offering an outstanding incentive if no one knows about it. So in your direct mail piece, make this offer clear, easy to understand, easy to respond to, and relevant for your audience. Easy Does It Make it as simple as possible for your prospect to respond to you. The most effective option is a fax-back form with quick and easy response sections. Other possibilities are a toll-free telephone number, a postage-paid reply card, or a Web site. The Web site might not necessarily be your direct response tool, but it is certainly very effective as an additional interactive vehicle for obtaining more information about show. Follow up by Phone Whatever you send out, make sure you follow it up with a telephone call to close sale. You'll see single digit response rates quickly turn into double digits as a result. Whoever makes those phone calls must be professional, courteous, and well-informed of details of show and benefits of exhibiting. Printing Essentials There are plenty of ways to save money, time, and mistakes when it comes to your direct mail bottom line -- and all without compromising quality or quantity. Here are a few ideas to consider: - Save money with a printer. Pick a printer that will work with you -- not necessarily one that offers lowest bid. If you don't, you could end up sacrificing both quality and money. - Get at least three estimates from three different reputable printers. - Ask to see samples of their printing quality. - Remember that you can always negotiate a price (typically between 10 percent and 20 percent off of price they first quote you). - For small print jobs buy your paper at a discount paper warehouse and avoid printer's markup. - Always supply a very detailed purchase order that includes all details that could be problems: price quoted, ink colors, paper specs, space requirements, quantity, etc. - Make sure that you see a final proof before job is printed. - When possible, supply printer with a sample of your final art as a guideline. Mailing Tips Not only does a little know-how help with your printing procedures, but in your mailing too. If you want to save dollars, use third-class or bulk rate. You can save more than 70 percent of your postage cost if you can afford slight time delay that bulk rate demands. Deliverability of bulk rate mail is between three and 10 days, but depending on city, it can be just as fast as first-class. Make up a sample package in early stages of your preparation and take it down to your post office to check that it will go through mail system without any problems. You don't want to find this out after you have printed 30,000 pieces! Consider using a mail house to handle and sort your volume work. It can save an enormous amount of your time for a relatively low fee. Concerned about image of mailing bulk rate? You can buy third-class stamps, which make a much better impact than a metered bulk rate mark. What's key to your direct mail? It's synergistic effect of multiple hits -- whether that's by mail, telephone, e-mail, broadcast fax, or an inexpensive postcard reminder -- which will ultimately make impact and make sale.
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.
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