Love is in the air, January’s over and spring’s just around the corner – yes, it’s Valentine’s Day.
Businesses the world over spend every hour of the day obsessing over their customers: how to chat them up, how to move from a casual fling to a long-term relationship, how to spice things up after the first flush of love… But how do you show your customers how much you really care?
After all, there are umpteen other brands writing sonnets to woo your customers – so your declaration of love needs to be Shakespeare-worthy.
Not confident in your romancing skills?
No problem, that’s why we’re here. Our marketing experts have shared a few of their favourite tips and tricks to keep the romance going and help you share the love.
1. Love them for who they are
Take the time to get to know who your customers really are, not who you think they should be – and don’t try to change them! Keep your content relevant and talk to your customers about products they’ll be interested in, not just your best sellers or surplus stock you want to offload.
2. Over-deliver rather than over-promise
Customers appreciate (and remember) everything from great customer service to little moments of surprise and delight. It can be as simple as including a thank you note from the founder or adding something unexpected to an order – a bag of branded sweets costs virtually nothing but makes opening a package much more fun!
3. Public displays of affection
Whatever you think about PDAs on the street, in bars or (heaven forbid) at the table next to you in a restaurant, when it comes to sharing customer stories, you can never do too much. Be obsessive about collecting customer reviews and take every opportunity to amplify those good news stories across all touchpoints. Not only does it show potential new customers how great your product is, it also strengthens your relationship with your existing customers and shows that you love them too.
4. Say sorry
We’ve all been there. Something goes wrong and it’s your fault. Admit you made a mistake and go above and beyond to make it right. Customers are willing to forgive when you show how much you really care – and they’ll love you for it!
5. Be empathetic
Valentine’s Day can be difficult for a lot of people. Imagine you’re going through a break-up – you definitely don’t want to be bombarded with images of happy couples and lovehearts when you’re crying into your tub of Ben & Jerry’s. So give your customers the chance to opt out from Valentine’s Day email communications. It’s a simple way to make tough times a little easier and is a great thing to do for Father’s Day and Mother’s Day too.
6. Say thank you!
It’s the single most powerful phrase in a marketer’s phrasebook and one we really don’t use often enough. After all, if it weren’t for your customers, you’d be out of a job. So take the time to say thanks and give them a small token of gratitude, be it in the form of a discount or a gift.
None of this is rocket science but we’ve proven it works with our clients. Cheesy as it may be, if you’re head over heels in love with your customers, they’ll fall for you too!
And as the old saying goes, look after the customers and the sales will look after themselves.
Want to hear more about how we help our clients retain customers? Drop us an email at hello@more2.com, we’re always happy to share ideas.
