Business e-Book Collection September 2013 | Page 5

Improve your offering to existing customers
Do you treat your existing return customers like everyone else? Or are they a little
more special to you?
Existing customers should be nurtured. After all, the estimated cost of bringing in
a new customer as opposed to holding on to your existing ones ranges between 5
and 10 times.
How do you keep your existing customers coming back? RetailToolBox offers these
inexpensive suggestions:
1. Deliver Great (Personal) Customer Service
2. Database Marketing – send reminders, letters and offers to your existing
customer database regularly – but not too often, as that might be
considered spamming
3. Have strategies in place for treatment of your Gold Customers – those that
spend the most with you
4. Social media
5. Loyalty Schemes
6. Email newsletter
7. Ask for referrals from your loyal customers
8. Local area marketing – target some marketing to local community events
9. Create an event3
You see that the number one item is customer service. Focus Plus quotes the
International Customer Service Association as saying “68 per cent of customers
stop doing business with a company because of poor service.”4
Many of the above ideas require you to collect your customers’ email addresses
and send them regular information. To automate this process, attach an autoresponder to your website, which will schedule mailouts to your requirements.
Your IT person should be able to fix you up with this easily.

3

http://www.retailtoolbox.com.au/how-to-guides/get-more-customers/10-inexpensive-ways-to-keep-yourexisting-customers
4
http://www.focusplus.net.au/pages/customer_service_facts.htm