There’s an understandable focus on gaining new customers in business. After all, the more people you get through your doors, the further your reach is likely to get. But, many business owners make the mistake of neglecting the customers they already have or failing to get people coming back.
In truth, though, returning customers are crucial to success. For the most part, these are the people who’ll sing your praises the loudest. Through returned customers, you can build loyalty and trust. And, you can be sure these are the people who will tell their friends and support you come rain or shine.
Only, you’ve been focusing so much on new customers that you’ve failed to build a loyal customer base at all. In fact, you don’t think anyone’s ever come through your doors more than once. You aren’t alone. But, it is crucial that you get on top of this. And, to do that, you need to consider why customers never come back. Sometimes, of course, your product will let you down, and it’s worth considering that first. But, more often than not, that isn’t the issue. To help you get to the bottom of things, then, we’re going to look at some of the things which might be causing them not to call.
You aren’t providing incentives
You can’t expect first-time customers to feel loyalty if you don’t offer incentives. At this stage, they have no reason to care about what you do. One sale does not a loyal customer make. That’s why you need to offer incentives to get them back through the door. Because two or three purchases will lead you well on the way to loyalty. You don’t have to go mad with this. In fact, it’s better to keep it simple. Why not offer a 5% off voucher for their next visit? Or, you could develop a loyalty card to keep them coming. Either way, you want them to have good reason to return.
You offer a stressful shopping experience
Nothing’s worse than stressful shopping for preventing returning customers. If they’ve had to put an undue amount of effort into their purchase, you can kiss goodbye to second chances. For the most part, this applies to online shopping. If your website is difficult to navigate, for instance, customers are more likely to click straight off your site the moment they complete an order. There’s no chance of them sticking around OR coming back. To make sure that doesn’t happen, keep things simple and easy to understand. Make sure, too, that delivery is prompt, and that you send updates on dispatch and delivery times. If a customer has to chase their parcel, there’s no chance they’ll call again once it’s arrived.
Your service left a bad taste
Your products could be the best around, but that won’t help you if your service isn’t up to scratch. If a customer leaves feeling staff were rude or dismissive, why should they come back? If this were a date, you’d need to do some wining and dining with a grin from ear to ear. You certainly shouldn’t avoid eye contact and say nothing. Bear this in mind during staff training. If you’re worried, you could even turn to a professional sales coaching service who can do the job for you. Either way, you need to know your staff are charming the socks off every customer they serve. There’s no better way to build loyalty, after all, than by making personal connections.
You don’t follow through
It’s also crucial that you realise a customer has no reason to call you. Instead, it should be down to you to make the first move. The customer has shown their interest; now you need to show them yours as it were. That means making sure you get contact details and use them. This is easy enough with online shopping as customers automatically enter details. It’s also worth offering incentives to those who give you their email addresses at the till. Then, get into the habit of sending out a feedback form, or a simple email thanking them for their custom. You’ve likely had a fair few of these in your time, and there’s no denying they can be annoying. But, most of us take the time out if we were impressed with the service. And, this small effort keeps your company in the mind of someone who could have forgotten it otherwise. And, having customers thinking about you is exactly what you want.
