Staying in touch with your customers is the only surefire way to guarantee they’ll come waltzing back through your doors, but staying connected at all times is often easier said than done. Indeed, many modern businesses are effectively bankrupting themselves with fruitless efforts to stay in touch with their customers, when in reality you can keep connected to your frequent shoppers at little to no cost to your small business.
Here are some strategies to employ when it comes to keeping connected with your customers in 2019, and some common mishaps you’ll want to avoid if you don’t want to waste your money.
You absolutely must have an email list
The most effective strategy for keeping in touch with any customer base in this day and age is a comprehensive email list, so assembling your company’s email list should be a top priority. Social media platforms are excellent for staying connected to people and can enable your company to personalize the way it approaches consumers with its brand, but at the end of the day, a real email list is the best way to generate more business for yourself.
If you haven’t already mastered this process, do your homework on how to assemble a great email list from scratch and you’ll soon see more customers pouring through your front doors. Only after you’re satisfied with your ability to directly reach out to customers via email should you move on to the next natural source of connectivity, today’s leading social media platforms.
Companies like Facebook may be going through the wringer in terms of public relations right now, but untold millions of customers still flock to social media platforms because they’re simply irresistible when it comes to connecting to others and staying up to date on current events. Outside of creating groups of social media platforms and generating a buzz for yourself on popular social hangouts, you can also rely on other high tech ways to keep in touch. A smartphone application, for instance, can be quickly developed in this day and age and immediately dispersed to your customer base so they can collect reward points or check in on their appointments with your business.
Ask yourself if you’re making the best use of your website
A fantastic website isn’t just nice, it’s a necessity in the modern marketplace. If your brand doesn’t have an excellent online webpage to grow its popularity, you’re going to shrivel up and fade away as your competitors scoop up more of your consumers. It’s thus worthwhile to consider asking if you’re making the best use of your website; do you allow consumers to create profiles, and if so, how in-depth and malleable to data mining are they? Furthermore, you should be asking yourself how engaged your own workers and customer service reps are when it comes to your own webpage and social media presence.
Anyone struggling in this realm should take some time to learn about how they can engage with customers through their own website rather than wasting time on other social media channels. Twitter and Facebook may have larger user populations, but your own webpage is a visited by customers who fall into your industry niche and are more likely to bring you additional business in the future, so focus much of your time and efforts there. Some of the key contact information you should have in place include a Skype account, a physical address, a valid, free, phone number to ring provided by some of the best 800 providers, as well as a live chat box.
Look at what other companies are doing
Finally, another tried-and-true method of keeping in contact with your customers is to study what your competitors are doing so that you can adapt their successful strategies. Major companies like Amazon have embarked on an ambitious project to lure customers back in for future business, for instance; by offering free samples to customers who have a purchase-history demonstrating they’re likely to enjoy those samples, Amazon is drumming up more sales. You, too, should be focusing on providing your customers with samples and incentives based on their past purchasing history to get them coming back for more time and time again.
In addition to copying the successful marketing tactics of others, you should also be aware that a herd mentality is sometimes correct; the decision made by most businesses to stay on Facebook despite the immense amount of scandals plaguing that platform was likely the proper choice to make, for instance. If your company is keeping itself aware of what your competitors are doing, you’ll be less likely to slip up and make a crucial mistake that sets you back in your industry. Before hopping on board of the latest trends, stop to consider what opportunities others are passing up or focusing on.
At the end of the day, staying connected to customers in 2019 will be less about focusing extensively on digital technology and more about forming legitimate bonds and relationships with them. By offering them sales, product samples, and other incentives, you can build rapport with your customer base while convincing them that your business is worth sticking by in the long-run.
