May 11/18, 2015; Volume 29/Number 3
By Lisbeth Calandrino
Over the last year I have been working with FollowYourCustomer.com, an automated marketing system that is programmed to “touch” your customers as many times as you would like. I’ve received several calls on the subject, and it seems everyone wants to know how many touches there should be in a successful marketing plan.
The answer is it depends on how much you want the customer to remember you. Since 90% of your business is from referrals, my suggestion is you stay in touch as much as possible.
If you’ve read Google’s “ZMOT: Why It Matters Now More Than Ever,” you are aware the customer’s journey has changed. Instead of having only one encounter with the salesperson in the store, she can have as many as 20 or 30 encounters online through social media, email marketing and direct mail.
Any marketing expert will tell you in order to be successful, a business must dominate its niche market or most valuable customer base. Once you do that, you must control it with repetitive marketing. If you’re only in touch a few times a year, you’re leaving your customers open to getting stolen by your competitors.
Do you remember the old Rule of Seven? This rule states that you must connect with your customer at least seven times for her to know and trust you. That was before the customer became smarter than the salesperson, and before Google wrote about ZMOT.
The Rule of Seven is based on “information marketing” and that’s why it’s effective. By regularly providing free information to your prospects, you are building solid relationships. Information offered in a newsletter or blog doesn’t scare them because it’s not a sales pitch; it’s a genuine attempt to educate and help.
Moving back to the topic of touches—how many touches do you need? My suggestion is you start with a monthly plan for a year using various methods of communication. Or try weekly email marketing as long as the content is fun, interesting and useful.
That doesn’t mean sending advertisements and offers to customers every week; it means sending them valuable information. Customers are on overload. (Think about how many more products there are in the marketplace since you were a child.) What your business needs is to be remembered when your customer or her friend needs a product or service.
These days you have to work harder to be heard against all the noise in the marketplace. Chain Store Age recently published an article about how the millennial generation prefers the automated checkout vs. talking with salespeople. Although that’s pretty scary, we also know this group thrives on learning, so send them useful information.
I know you believe that customers think about you all the time, but the truth is most of them can’t even remember the name of your business. You must have had at least one customer ask, “What’s the name of this store?” when beginning to write a check. Keep that in mind when you’re thinking about how they all love you.
Many stores neglect to ask prospects if they can add them to their databases to be contacted about valuable offers and special promotions. If I’m in the market for flooring, why wouldn’t I say yes? And if I say yes to your request, I’m already on the way to becoming a customer.
It’s important to remember that we are in the people business, not the product business. Keeping in touch with your customers will remind them you care. It will also remind you to care.