The Dos and Don’ts of Keeping Customers Coming Back

My list of The Dos And Don’ts Of Great Offers And Keeping Customers Coming Back

The TO DO list of great offers –

Discounts are great, but don’t always make it a discount. They should be used sparingly or the customer will be trained to only respond to discounts, and you will have defeated the purpose of making more money with your program.
Information on new products/services is enough to get them in. Examples:
Fresh raspberry shakes are now here.
Monday night football on our big screens with the whole gang.
Our delicious brownies are fresh today.
Weekly sandwich specials: Monday – Turkey on Cranberry Bread, Tuesday – Ham and Swiss on Sourdough, Wednesday – Roast beef on Onion Toasted Kaiser roll, Thursday – Italian Meats on Hoagie, Friday – Ham & Turkey on Ciabatta Roll.
The new book by J.K. Howler has just arrived.
Make it a business lunch that you’ll want every day – great Brazilian BBQ now on the menu.
Offer free items that are low cost and offer high margins to you. Example: Purchase two entrees, one appetizer, and get a FREE DESSERT.
Bring in a group. Example: Bring in a group of 10 people and get 1,000 FREE PAINTBALLS to share.
Promote special events or items: Birthday Club / Meeting Rooms / Anniversaries
Know what the purpose or goal of the offer is: Information or to drive traffic.
When texting, always make sure your company is identified. Start with your name. In coupons, put your logo into the coupon just in case they cut it out and forget who it is from. Branding!
Only use abbreviations that are widely known including on text messages. It may save space, but if you have space, don’t abbreviate. Acceptable abbreviations: Exp. Info, Mtn.
Track what is working and what’s not – Can you lower the discount and still have it be an effective offer (go from BOGO free to BOGO ½ price)? Some companies offer big discounts at first but you should raise the price slowly to keep people coming in while still making it so you can make a profit.
Have an offer/text/coupon plan each month and stick to it. Try not to use the same offers in all marketing media. You can trace what offers bring you more in which program.
Consistency is the key in Top of Mind Awareness. A restaurant can text more often if they let the customers know that they will be sending out a daily lunch special and a weekly dinner special.
Use a few keywords to target the customer’s wants. Lunch vs. dinner – Bread Club, Sandwiches, VIP Club, Brownie Club, Etc.
Target the online or text offers so they hit at the appropriate time to be most effective. A lunch offer at 11:30 may be too late. That also means 8:30 is too early.
Build an email permission marketing program both on your website and for use in your office or store. Just ask; very few people will say no. Respect those that do say no.
When sending emails, use a subject line that helps the prospect know what it is about. Make it cleaver too but truthful.
Use 14-point text in your emails. The preferred type font is Calibri over all other font styles.
Send emails for B2B offers and info at 9 a.m. on a Thursday. Now you will be competing with me but it has proven to be 11% more effective to send at that time. I have been testing all times to verify this and IT IS TRUE! Second best is 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Wednesday at 1:30 is next and so on.
For emails, texts and social media, set a schedule you will use and stick to it. I have used flexible schedules and they are better received when they are on a regular schedule.
Newsletters are better if you send them once per week. Others work every two weeks. Once per month is great for others. Ask your customers how often they prefer them. I used to do these every two weeks and went to every month and got feedback that this information would be welcome most every week. A few asked for less but majority (74%) said each week.

The Don’ts-

Don’t send too many texts (One per week is optimum) or social media offers. Even when you warn people that you are sending them offers more often, it will still get annoying and you will have a higher drop out.
Don’t forget to identify your business. Start with your name with texts and have your logo in all print or email programs. Branding!
Don’t send worthless texts. Make them have something of value. Not – Come see our store today. (Real text that I have received). Specials, new products, new services, new hours, etc. Make it worth their while. This goes for social media as well. A cleaver saying or a testimonial would do much better than the worthless ones. They can be about branding.
If you use texting, don’t oversell or get too many customers coming in. Six hundred fifty customers in two days can be overwhelming. Split your list if you need to. Make sure to take care of these customers.
If you don’t track, you will not know what works. Make sure you get a record of how many customers use the offers from each program and how much you made from it.
Don’t send the same offer/text each week. Even once per month is too often for some offers. Change it up for better results and for the customer to understand what you have to offer.
Don’t make the offer about things you just want to get rid of unless you are having a GREAT sale on it. Make it more about what they are wanting.
Don’t use the same offer over and over and over. If you use the number 3 in the dos (above) it can become ineffective if that is the only offer you make. BORING! It becomes the expected and not special.

Do you have some ideas that you can share? I would love more to add to this for a follow-up in a few weeks.

Now is the time to plan for your future, and that includes the offers you will be promoting. Create an offer-by-program (media) calendar and you will be less stressed. Don’t worry if you get something new that you need to plug in. If you need help with this, contact me and I can help.

Market well and you will build your business so it is stronger and will become more profitable.

Boyd Petersen
Certified Marketing Coach.