How to Ensure Repeat Business: Inspiration to Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More

What do Charlotte's Patisserie and Horman's Best Pickles have in common?  Well for starters, they have spectacular #SmallBizSnacks Seriously, you have not experienced pure pickle bliss until you've had a jalapeno or horesradish pickle, and you are missing out if you have yet to gaze upon the handmade desserts at Charlotte's pastry counter.  What I'm going to share about them today, however, is more business related: they actively encourage their customers, whether first-timers or regulars (I'm at Charlotte's every morning) to keep coming back for more. 

Repeat customers are essential.  In fact, studies show that it's actually less expensive to bring back existing customers than to hunt down and land new ones.  To me, that is commandment every business must obey: any transaction (whether in person or virtual) should always be just the beginning of an ongoing relationship with them.  Whether you deliver a package to their door, coffee into their hands or a podcast into their inbox, that transaction moment should always encourage them to come back to you for more, whatever that more may be!

To get your creative juices flowing I've got some ideas you can include on your retail and marketing checklist to ensure you're doing everything you can to keep customers in your door and on your website, and money in your pocket!

ENCOURAGE FREQUENT CUSTOMERS BY DOING THIS...

• Reward loyalty. Use frequent shopper cards (like Charlotte's & Horman's do) for your brick & mortar (or farmers market, or trunk show...) shoppers.  Give them a freebie or useful bonus to them after they make a specific amount of purchases (keep it to no more than ten purchases to ensure it's attainable).

• Encourage a return stop to your website or store with each transaction whether it's a discount on their next purchase, free shipping or something personalized to your product or service.

• If you sell podcasts, classes or other downloadables, always include a link to more of these items (and a discount code for them to purchase more) within each post-transaction email.

• Entice them to spread they love by including a promotional gift or discount they can pass along to a friend (this can be done with a physical or virtual promotion card or note).

• Lure them in with free samples! Okay this is more of a pre-sale action but I'll tell you, whether it's an audio teaser or a sample pickled-onion (again, what lured me in) letting people sample your wares is often the fastest way to convert them into a loyal customer.

• Be sure your actions encourage repeat customers just as your products or services do: have a friendly staff, an enticing website and excellent customer service.  This also means you must keep it personal: remember what people purchase, know their favorite drink or snack, call them by name if you are in person with them often...The little things are often actually the big things.

• Snag their emails.  Whether you're online or in-person in terms of your business, capture emails so that you can invite them to upcoming events, share exclusive deals, fill them in on your business news and make them feel like they're a part of your business "family".

Have a strategy your business uses to encourage repeat customers?  Share it in the comments!