Love it or hate it, Valentineâs Day is just around the corner, and marketers everywhere are seizing the opportunity to show their customers a little love. Which means that most well-intended Valentineâs offers will simply end up lost in all the noise.
So how can you keep customers in love with your marketing once the hype has died down?
Like any good relationship, itâs all about knowing the other person – in this case, understanding who your customers are, what they want and how valuable they are to your business. With a little insight into your customers, itâs much easier to create personalised conversations that nurture their relationship with your brand.
Learn what they like to engage with
Be careful not to overwhelm customers with irrelevant messages – talking endlessly about something the other party has no interest in is a great way to kill the conversation (and the relationship). Instead, find out what types of content, offers, etc. they do want to engage with and talk about those – whether itâs through email, SMS, social or even your blog.
The easiest way to find out what theyâre interested in is, simply, to ask them. When customers (or potential customers) sign up for your marketing comms, find out what kinds of messages they want to receive, which channels they prefer and how often they want to hear from you.
And donât rely solely on what customers say theyâre interested in – pay attention to what types of content they engage with and what they ignore. If they havenât stated explicitly that theyâre into high-end womenâs fashion but continuously interact with that type of content, itâs a fairly good indicator. That means you might leave them out of your next mailing about great deals on menswear, but ensure they do get the SMS about the latest designer dresses in stock.
Give them a reason to stick around
Keep an eye on your most loyal customers – those that shop with you or use your service frequently, engage with the majority of your messages and promote your products on social media. Traditional marketing wisdom suggests that 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your customers, so be sure to:
- say thanks with occasional VIP offers or exclusive content
- listen and respond to what theyâre saying about your brand
- check in if their engagement levels or purchase frequency starts to drop
For customers who arenât as loyal – but are high value – find out whatâs getting in the way. Have they received less-than-stellar service? Do they need more support to get the most out of your product? See if you can find any commonalities among these customers, then think about how you can encourage greater loyalty.
Understand the value of the relationship
Some customers take more than they give – in certain sectors, the cost of retaining a customer may be higher than the amount they spend on your products or services. If thatâs the case, consider whether itâs worth holding on to them.
Donât simply write off all your low-spenders, though – consider their lifetime value as well as their past spending. Customers who make small purchases a few times a month are often just as valuable as those who make an expensive purchase once or twice a year.
To really get an understanding of who your customers are, itâs important to look at these factors together. For example, you might compare those who are most valuable with those who are most engaged, to see if theyâre largely the same people (they should be). Or you might want to see how many of your low-spenders are also very loyal, to think about how you might encourage them to shop more often.
By looking for overlap between different groups, you can monitor the health of your customer relationships and develop strategies to improve them.
Weâre working on some handy new tools to help you measure (and compare) factors like engagement, loyalty and value. Sign up for our e-news to get updates on the new features, plus the latest from our blog.
