Generating Repeat Business Through Effective Email Marketing

Some people think that email marketing is all about winning new customers, about making that crucial first sale. While it is important to turn interest – a visitor to your website making the decision to subscribe to your mailing list – into cold, hard cash, you also need to pay attention to nurturing your new leads and generating repeat business.

So many companies focus all of their energy on the first sale and end up neglecting customers they haven’t heard from in a while. Keeping in regular contact assures the customer that they are valued and can cement a sense of loyalty. However, if you blitz their inboxes with tempting new customer offers and then go silent once the sale has been made, this can easily cause them to forget about you.

So, how do you use email marketing to generate repeat business? What tactics can you use that are just as persuasive as those new customer offers? Here are a few pointers to help improve your campaigns and revive that initial customer enthusiasm about your brand…

• Don’t stop the offers. Savvy customers hate being lured in with a fantastic welcome offer then once they’ve made a purchase, and then having to pay full price every time after that. There are plenty of ‘welcome back’ offers, timely discounts and sales you can use to tempt a customer back who has not made a purchase in a while.

• Use time-sensitive, urgent language. To catch the attention of a customer whose interest in your brand has lapsed, you need to prompt them to act now. Time-limited offers are a great way to do this, leaving a customer feeling that they can’t ignore your email or act on it later.

• Keep in regular, consistent contact. You need to keep reminding customers that your brand exists, even if they aren’t ready to make a purchase yet. Keep in regular contact with newsletters and other emails, but make sure to keep the frequency low enough so as not to annoy recipients and end up caught in spam filters.

• Use previous purchase information to create more relevant content. This can be time-consuming unless you use a clever automation tool, but you can use details of a customer’s previous purchase with your brand to create personalised content that they will be interested in. So, for example, if the customer bought sportswear from you previously, you can email to tell them about a sportswear sale you’re having.

• Make subscribers feel like part of a club. If you can make a customer feel special for already having purchased from you and for being on your mailing list, this ‘included’ feeling can make them warm to your brand. You can do this by letting them know first about exciting news and special offers, or by offering them subscriber-only deals. You can also ask for and act on their feedback, letting them know that their thoughts and opinions as customers really matter to you.

Source: B2C