How To Keep Your Customers Coming Back

By Author: Larry Tang
Total Articles: 512
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If your website has a goal, that is, sales made through an online ecommerce site, lead generation, phone calls, surveys that are completed, then you probably have put some significant effort in time and expense towards winning that client and it all started with a conversion.

If you have been in business for any length of time, you should probably already know what a big percentage of NEW sales actually come from EXISTING customers. If you are doing a good job, this is most certainly the case. This should make sense; customer buys product or uses your service and you have provided the value, and hopefully more, than the client expected. Important customer-relationship dynamics take hold trust, confidence, peace of mind and convenience all grow in your favor.

So, let's talk discuss how Search Engine Optimization, Conversion Optimization, Product and Service Delivery can all work together to maximize repeat and expanded business from your best prospects; your existing customer base.

Here is a multi-point plan for getting online customers, keeping them and getting repeat and expanded business. We will ...
... primarily focus on online marketing but much of this can also be applied to all marketing.

1. Website Design With a Purpose - make sure that your website is well thought out. Know what the job of the website it is, what the objectives are, what constitutes a conversion the act that you want the online visitor to take so you and your company can take over from there.

2. Website Marketing - your website can be well thought out but the world needs to know you exist. So SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is essential so that those who Google those keywords specific to your business will find your website. Successful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will rank these keywords so that you will be easily found by precisely those now only finding your competition.

3. Execution - this is the key to keeping and expanding client relationships.

a. If you have an online store - is your ordering process secure? Is it an easy, convenient process? Is it a one-page check-out? Are there multiple secure payment methods? Do you provide guarantees or warranties; are your terms and conditions easy to understand? Do you provide confirmation via email and tracking information if applicable? Do you provide shipping choices if applicable? Do you provide client testimonials? Do you provide qualified phone assistance if necessary?

b. If you are generating leads - is the lead form secure? Is it simple and to the point? Does it provide enough information so that your company can take action? Are you ready to take action through phone or email? Is your follow-up immediate? Searchers want immediacy after all, they are the ones that decided that they are now interested.

c. Do you have online live assistance? This can be very useful for those that don't want to pick up the phone but still want immediate answers.

4. Leveraging the Customer - assuming you have all of the above mastered, this is where you can make a difference on a gut level.

a. Follow-up - is your response time immediate or at least prompt.

b. Make the customer feel like you are there for them.

c. Develop the mindset that you want customers or clients and not sales. Clients buy over and over. Sales are one-hit wonders.

d. Are you following through with your client actively to make sure things are going well?

e. Are you committed to problem-solving? showing the client that you are not just service-oriented but that you are results oriented.

f. Customer Marketing

i. Client Newsletters - a monthly newsletter (e-newsletter is the most cost effective) sent to your clients is both inexpensive and greatly effective done correctly. The newsletter must regular (monthly) informative and not salesy. It needs to be nurturing. It's a great way to keep your name in front of the customer and in-mind on a consistent basis. Put links to new content on your website into the newsletter. This promotes website visitation and spurs new business.

ii. Blogging - regular blogposts to your website blog are another great way to keep your name, your products and ideas in front of the customer. This encourages comment and opinion and keeps you and your customers close. Provide the option of an RSS feed directly from your blog. This is an opt-in way of keeping yourself in front of the customer as often as you wish simply by keeping your blog active.

iii. New Website Content - as with blogging, and RSS feed can be established so that when new content is added to the site, whether it's a new product or service or an article or new online or corporate policy, the client will instantly know because they are getting the feed.

iv. SEO - all of the above have the additional advantage of improving search engine results because your are enriching the content of the site which is critically important to the search engines as they scan your website.

v. Analytics - whether through SEO, email marketing, blogging, ecommerce, direct online access or bookmarking, all of this can be tracked through analytics. As opposed to traditional marketing, you have the first and only completely accountable client marketing monitoring program available. Properly installed and maintained, you can clearly measure your ROI for all of these online methods of consistent customer contact or interaction using Analytics. With analytics it is possible to measure the degree of online customer interaction through every phase of your continuing marketing efforts. Analytics can tell you about repeat visits to your website, repeat orders from your website, and number of clients opening your e-newsletter, reading the newsletter, following links from the newsletter to your site. Analytics can tell you which pages of your website is holding interest and which ones need to be improved.

All of these factors also serve to build your brand and franchise. The consistent delivery and execution of product and service combined with consistent, nurturing existing-client direct marketing provide the winning combination you need to Keep Your Customers Coming Back.