George - 1 Sep 2021 08:00:00
Year after year, I see small businesses struggling to maintain the interest of their customers and prospects. Many rely solely on word of mouth and supply & demand to carry their sales numbers and, while this is certainly very important, they very often overlook the most valuable tool in their arsenal.
I don’t know about you but when I purchase something online I usually have a select handful of sites in my mind that I will always check and purchase from if possible. Lots of people will simply resort to a quick Amazon search, but generally speaking I would much rather support a small business that I know will provide me with good quality and customer service. The key question is though, how do I know where to go? The answer is pretty simple and it may not be what you think.
They keep emailing me! Weeks, months, years even, after I’ve made a purchase from them, these companies are still sending me promotional material! Even if none of it is relevant to me, it will nonetheless be an ever present reminder that not only had I bought something from them, but it was such a pain free experience that I consented to them sending numerous Discounts, Offers, Information and Newsletters for years on end. Once my previous purchase has broken, run out or otherwise gone out of date, I’ll have their name and brand image in my mind immediately, and their website will be on my screen in seconds.
The best part of this by far is that it’s fairly low effort on the part of the Business. You will be passively gaining email addresses with every sale you make, and setting up emails couldn’t be any easier than we make it at Sellr. There are a few different kinds of email and I’ll briefly cover them here to help you understand how each can be best used to achieve a long standing relationship with your customers.
The simplest to understand, scheduled emails can basically be seen as Newsletters. This gives you a lot of freedom with what you can put in them - as long as they contain interesting Information & Images and memorable Branding, they'll go a long way towards keeping your business in prospects’ and customers’ minds! Just design the email in Edit Mode, set it up for delivery in Marketing > Email Marketing > Schedule Emails, and wait for your audiences to receive them.
Another useful thing is that you’ll be able to clearly see how many of these are being read, so you can keep track of how engaging the content is that you’re writing out! Just be sure that you aren’t spamming them too frequently, as flooding someone's inbox with marketing emails is almost asking them to unsubscribe!
These are sent out once a customer has either purchased an item or abandoned their basket. These can be very effective at prompting a purchase. For example, if you’re supplying an item that will run out, a well-timed follow-up reminding the customer that it may be time to buy another can double, triple, quadruple (and so on) the sales that you’ll eventually be getting from them. I personally have been roped into supporting specific companies for years with this exact strategy. You can even send multiple follow-ups, so the power to pull customers back only increases with time.
I’ve also noticed many businesses sending out abandonment follow-ups with a Discount. I love this approach a lot, though I would be careful with it as some customers may feel cheated to know that they could’ve gotten it cheaper had they waited a day or two. Regardless of the discount though, sending abandonment emails will certainly show a prospect customer that you’re willing and happy to engage with them and care about their purchase. You’ll undoubtedly be converting customers with a quick follow-up!
When someone gives you their email address on your website, you don’t just want to say thanks and call it a day! Setting up a sequence of autoresponders will do wonders to familiarize prospects and customers with your brand. Not only that but it's been proven that you can quite easily turn a prospect into a long-term customer with the right content. Think of it this way: a prospect that’s gone out of their way to provide you with their email address will already have an interest in your services - it’s your job now to let them know why you are the ones they should be paying attention to going forward. Master this strategy on top of the other two and you'll not only be making more sales from your customers, but even making more customers from your prospects!
These have been specifically tailored towards the Sellr platform, but all of these techniques will work regardless of whether or not you’re using Sellr (it’s just that we’ve set it up to be easy to manage!). It’s very important that you take this information in and apply it to your business approach if you haven’t already, as not only will you inevitably gain more sales but your brand will cement in customers’ minds like never before! I honestly cannot understate the impact that this will have to your business if you’ve been neglecting it – there’s really no excuse!
Go out, manage your customers right, and make more sales!
George Marketing Expert
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