Keep Winning Those Customers That You've Already WON

Written by Tatiana Velitchkov


Have these things ever happened to you?

You buy a cup of coffee fromrepparttar neighborhood café, and as they hand you your receipt you get a calling card sized, attractively designed "loyalty record," promising that if you come back for 8 more cups anytime withinrepparttar 121267 year you'll get your 10th cup for free.

A few days later you call for pizza, andrepparttar 121268 person onrepparttar 121269 phone announces: "Congratulations! This is your 5th order from our store inrepparttar 121270 past 6 months! You automatically get a Preferred Customer's Value Card with this delivery, FREE!" And whenrepparttar 121271 card arrives you happily discover that you can now get a 10% discount on every succeeding order you place forrepparttar 121272 rest ofrepparttar 121273 year.

The next day you go to your local supermarket for groceries. Asrepparttar 121274 cashier rings up your purchases she asks if you already have a Privilege Card, and since you don't have one yet she encourages you to get one -- just keep today's receipt along with other receipts from their store (from previous and future purchases), and oncerepparttar 121275 recorded amounts total up to $500 or more, you get a "Privilege Card" that rewards you with discounts and product giveaways every time you return to their store.

Now, these 3 experiences might make you shake your head and say "déjà vu," but it isn't really as Twilight Zone as it seems.

Smart business people know that it costs more time & money to win over new customers than to keep old ones. And this is simply what these 3 experiences are all about: keeping old customers loyal, therefore getting more profits from their repeat purchases inrepparttar 121276 long run.

And WE could certainly benefit from learning from these "loyalty development" strategies, even if we're doing business entirely online.

Be More Than A Bookmark -----------------------

Most ofrepparttar 121277 successful brick & mortar loyalty programs are often created out of necessity.

Chances are, several stores offeringrepparttar 121278 same products suddenly decided to invaderepparttar 121279 same target market, andrepparttar 121280 "been doing business since our grandfather" stores quickly realized they now had to compete forrepparttar 121281 same customers who didn't use to think twice about buying from them.

This same phenomenon can never be more parallel than when running a store onrepparttar 121282 net: It takes customers practicallyrepparttar 121283 same amount of effort to visit ANY website in cyberspace (i.e.repparttar 121284 same neighborhood), so you MUST give them a compelling reason to particularly visit YOURS.

You think it's enough to tell them to "bookmark" your site? Think again: Chances are, they've got another 2 megabytes' worth of bookmarks, too -- and they've never hadrepparttar 121285 chance to visit most of them again.

4 Kinds of Loyalty Rewards --------------------------

Now that you're looking into ways to keep winningrepparttar 121286 clients you've already won, here arerepparttar 121287 4 kinds of "loyalty rewards" that other businesses have successfully used, both online and off:

1) Outright Discounts

Nothing convinces more people into buying something (or somewhere) thanrepparttar 121288 thought that they'd be getting more for less.

So capitalize on this "I got a better bargain than everyone" mentality by giving loyal customers exclusive "bargain prices" for an entire year or more.

Share Marketing Costs, Boost Profits

Written by Will Dylan


The challenges ofrepparttar small business owner are well documented. They must battle for market share against larger competitors, run all aspects of their business, and even pay higher rates for advertising and other marketing related expenses. Small businesses generally do not qualify for volume discounts when it comes to buying advertising space or marketing materials, and thus they end up paying higher rates forrepparttar 121266 same ad space or marketing materials purchased by their corporate counterparts.

In recent years, there have been some changes inrepparttar 121267 marketplace that are of benefit to small business owners. For example, Internet procurement sites have emerged offering discount rates on everyday office supplies such as toner or paper. However,repparttar 121268 high cost of advertising has not been formally addressed. That’s why many small businesses are taking matters into their own hands and joining forces in marketing “co-ops”.

Here’s an example of how it works. Andy’s Accounting Firm and Larry’s Legal Firm are both small businesses operating inrepparttar 121269 business to business sector. Andy services small businesses with their accounting needs, and Larry is a lawyer specializing in small business issues. Andy and Larry both wish to purchase advertising space in a popular small business magazine. The rate they are quoted individually is $5000 forrepparttar 121270 back page ofrepparttar 121271 magazine. Since they are not repeat advertisers, neither Andy nor Larry receive any kind of discount. So how do they save money on this advertising venture? A co-op approach on one of two fronts will cut their advertising costs significantly:

Sharerepparttar 121272 ad: Since they are not direct competitors, Andy and Larry could splitrepparttar 121273 ad space 50/50, acting almost as if they were partners although their businesses are distinct. This dropsrepparttar 121274 cost to $2500 for each business and they still receive broad exposure in their chosen publication. In fact, by putting their heads together they should be able promote their collective business expertise as “Total Solutions for Small Business”.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use