5 Ways to Keep Hold of Customers

October 27, 2015

Businesses need to keep hold of customers if they’re going to become successful. But how can you do that? Well, here are 5 tips that should help you keep customers coming back for more.
Target the Right People
The very first thing that your business needs to do is make sure it’s targeting the right people. You need to conduct some market research and find what kind of people buy products or services from your business. If you don’t do this, your business might end up trying to sell products to the wrong sector of the market, and that will mean wasting a lot of money on poor advertising and marketing efforts. Try to construct a target customer, and find out everything about them. That’s the most effective way to make sure you’re targeting and connecting with the right customers.
Use E-Newsletters
 
When people land on your website, you should try to make sure that you collect their email addresses. If you can build up a database of email addresses of people who are interested in your company, you should be able to persuade customers to keep coming back. This will allow you to send out regular e-newsletters letting people know about any new products you have on sale and any discounts you’re offering. As long as you don’t spam people with offers, you should be able to increase online sales.
Add Personal Touches
Personal touches are a great way to make customers feel like they matter. If you simply ignore the individuals who use your business, people will soon stop buying from you. You can tailor a more personal approach by interacting with people and customers directly on social media. But you could also ask them for feedback when they use your services. This gives you a chance to make changes that will appeal to your customers, making them a little happier with your practices in the process.
Train Your Staff
Your staff need to be able to deal with customers in all kinds of difficult circumstances. This is most important for the staff who work in the customer services department. They need to be polite and helpful at all times, avoiding the temptation to get annoyed or frustrated when customers act rudely. When customers are unhappy about a problem they have with your company, they can often be difficult to deal with. But staying calm and doing their job properly is essential. If you have concerns about your employees’ skills, send them on Customer Service Training Courses.
Offer Loyalty Schemes
Loyalty schemes are a tried and tested method that help companies keep hold of their customers. They work by giving customers free products or a significant discount after they make a certain number of purchases from the company. This gives people an incentive to buy from your company rather than choosing another one. If they’re getting something for free in the future, it makes sense for them to keep coming back to your business. And that can only be a good thing in the long-term.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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