Author: Toby Nwazor / Source: Entrepreneur Smart brands know that customers are the lifeblood of their business. Customers, in fact, are t
Smart brands know that customers are the lifeblood of their business. Customers, in fact, are the core reason you can open up shop (whether that means online or brick and mortar) every day and generate a profit.
But while convincing first-time customers to come sample your products or services is a coup, nothing is better than getting a new customer who becomes a regular, and finally, a brand loyalist.
If you’re a restaurant owner, for instance, it is not just enough that you cook awesome meals. That in itself could get you a couple of visitors and first-time customers. But to make these customers come back to your restaurant, you may also have to offer an incentive for returning, as well as cultivate consistency in your kitchen and even go as far as convincing customers to join a mailing list.
So, what strategies in general help entrepreneurs to engage, satisfy and retain customers? These six steps below will help:
1. Sell convenience.
Customers like comfort and accessibility. So, your brand has to continually find innovative ways to make your products and services available and accessible to customers on the go.
Take a look at Starbucks, the coffee giant. It continually ups its game, with innovative ways to ensurecustomer comfort. For instance, its Mobile Order & Pay feature in its app fairly screams “ease.” That strategy alone is worth paying a few extra bucks for and likely to ensure brand loyalty.
2. Pre-engage with your prospects.
No matter how focused your online marketing efforts are, or how fine-tuned your website, today’s prospects rarely fill out forms or order services after getting their first impression. The noise is just too big; too much else is going on; too little time has gone by during that first visit, to build trust.
B2B sales intelligence tools like Infusion Soft, Leadberry or Marketo solve this problem by helping businesses to pre-engage with their clients and follow up with anonymous B2B visitors. According to Adam Jankovits, the CEO of B2B Lead generation company Leadberry, “On average, only 1.5 percent of first-time visitors will convert on your website; thus 98.5 percent of your online marketing spend can be easily a waste of money, if you are in the B2B sector and looking for clients to come to your door. Treating anonymous B2B visitors as prospects and reaching out to…
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