After all the hard work you’ve put into creating your home business website, advertising your products online and offline, driving traffic to your home page and finally attracting paying customers, the one thing you don’t want is your new clients to forget about you and your business. When you’ve created a customer email list you need to treat it as though your career online depends on it because, in reality, it does.
The future success of your home based enterprise depends on repeat sales to your current patrons and with this always in mind you must nurture your current customer list as though it’s your potential customer list. You must treat it as though they’ve never purchased your products by not letting them forget you or your home business.
Having said this you don’t want to go overboard and annoy them by emailing too often or by sending them too many advertisements. There is a happy medium and my rule of thumb is an email reminder every second day or at least three times per week so you’re not forgotten is sufficient.
So how do you keep your customer’s attention and remind them that you’re still there and ready to meet their online needs without becoming a nuisance? Here are four strategies I use to stay in front of my current clients without becoming annoying:
1. Have a regular give away for your customers on your home business website to show your appreciation. Every three months or so email your client list to remind them to go to your home page and pick out their complimentary gift. Of course your freebie must be related to your website theme and be something which will provide value to your patrons. On your gift page place an advertisement for a new product you’re promoting which may be of interest to your client. This is a great technique to use to get repeat sales.
2. When you complete a sale ask your new customer to sign up to receive reminder email messages every time you update or make changes to your home page. This way each time you add new content or change your background or theme you can send a mass email to your patrons asking them to check it out. The link in your email should send them to newly created content which offers value for them but also contains ads with links to your new product offerings.
3. Every six months, or on a yearly basis, have a customer appreciation week. Create a separate page on your website for your customers only and email them a thank you message in appreciation of their patronage with a username and password included for them to access this special area.
This back room could consist of a free download area for your clients only. You could also conduct a contest with the winner being announced at the end of customer appreciation week. Of course this special page would also contain banner ads and promotions for your merchandise which may peak your patrons interest when they visit.
4. Have regular sales and discount promotions for your current customers only. Email your client list with a special 15%-20% discount off each item on your current product list with a deadline for taking advantage of this special promotion included. Be sure to emphasize the limited time offer aspect of your promotion to instill a sense of urgency in your patrons which will encourage them to take immediate action.
Remember not to go overboard with your email reminders with three per week being sufficient. Your current home business customers are gold, in terms of repeat sales and the ongoing success of your online enterprise, and they should be treated as such.