Getting Repeat Customers

Getting Repeat Business is a MUST in the Deal Industry

The daily deal industry has been under a lot of scrutiny lately.  Groupon’s stock price has been tanking, they receive bad press on a pretty regular basis, and the barrier to entry to get involved and start a site similar to Groupon is virtually non-existent.

There are thousands of daily deal websites across the globe, most of which you probably have not heard of, but for the most part, they function the same.  Get a merchant to offer a discount on their product or service and proceed to market that discount to the deal site audience for a set period of time or until the offer sells out.  The primary sales and persuasion triggers that daily deal and coupon websites typically use is urgency, scarcity, and convenience.

Most of the time, if a business does not get repeat customers out of running a daily deal, they are losing money.  Running a deal for 50% or more off one of your products and services cuts your margins down pretty low and when you factor in the 50% cut that deal sites often ask for  it makes the importance of turning 1 time buyers into repeat customers a critical component to running a successful deal promotion campaign.

Getting fresh leads and traffic is the lifeline of a business.  But what separates a business that stays around from one that does not, is the ability to turn a new buyer into a raving fan and long term customer.

This is especially important for businesses that run promotions on a daily deal website.  You cannot count on generating your revenue from the people who will never redeem their coupons.

Deal sites must put a major emphasis on teaching merchants how to most effectively turn their new customers into a repeat customer.  They also need to be aware that certain businesses and industries simply can’t afford to do the “standard” daily deal and that being open and flexible with price points and margins offered to the merchants is very important.

Here are 8 tips to turn a new “daily deal” customer into a repeat customer.

Thank the customer for their purchase and congratulate them. 

They were excited when they bought the deal and oftentimes, folks will get buyer’s remorse; so it’s important to keep them excited and thankful that they ordered.  When the new customer leaves the business, ask to see them again soon and give them incentives to come back. Send them off with a “we want to see you again” pamphlet.

Gather feedback and testimonials as early as possible.

When someone publically states that they are pleased with a business, they are much more likely to internalize this feeling and stand behind the business at all costs.  Encourage and most importantly incentivize new customers to provide a review so that you can continually better your business.

Provide an excellent product and service.

This is the most important factor.  The number one reason why people become a repeat customer is because their expectations were exceeded and they were treated with respect, courtesy, and honesty.

Serving someone who only paid 50% of your normal cost oftentimes can feel like you are getting ripped off and make you subconsciously not deliver as well as you normally would.  The exact opposite needs to happen.  Blow expectations out of the water.  Go out of the way to make that new customer feel special.  Ensure service is delivered at peak performance.

Offer upsells and one-time offers that make sense.

I always like to discuss GoDaddy, the domain registrar, when speaking about upsells.  You visit GoDaddy to buy a domain name and expect to pay around $10.  Before all is said and done, GoDaddy has offered you over $1200 of additional services to add to your order.  The important component is that each of the upsells that they offer actually makes sense.  What additional products or services would make sense for your business to upsell a customer?  After buying a hotel stay, it would make sense to be upsold various activities to do surrounding the hotel, transportation, or an upgraded room.  The easier you can make the upsell process, and the more complimentary the upsell is, the more likely folks will buy your upsell.

Follow up with the new customer.

Communicate with your new customers.  Be real with them.  Provide updates, coupons, announcements, and always work to reinforce value and a reason to re-visit your business and bring friends with them.  Whenever communicating with a customer, offer something extra.  Don’t miss opportunities to remind people what’s new and good about your business.  Following up properly means that you need to develop a customer database and use it often. Follow up via multiple channels such as email, Facebook, text messages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.

Paint a picture of future purchases.

Let your customers visualize what new purchases with your company will be like.  Remind them how much they enjoyed buying from you initially and ask for them to purchase again.  When you help a customer relive their initial experience through pictures and videos, it compels them to want to experience it again.

Develop customer reward programs.

Offering promotions that are only available to previous customers can help grow and nurture loyalty and get those folks back in your door.  You can offer this via direct mail postcards, letters and phone calls, and many online channels.

Stand behind your business.

Offering guarantees on your products and services forces you to always strive to provide the most value and the best service.  The best way to capture a customer for life is to offer a refund when needed. Product guarantees should be at the forefront of customer support programs.  Offering quality customer service and support goes directly with this.

We live in a competitive world.  Make your business shine and stand apart from the rest.  Running a daily deal promotion can be a very successful marketing strategy because face it; people always love getting deals.  If you decide to run a promotion on a daily deal site, be sure to spend a great deal of time figuring out your price points, and even more time on delivering quality and turning your new customers into repeat, life-long fans.

What are you doing to turn a customer into a repeat customer?

Marc D. Horne
Daily Deal Builder 

I originally posted this article up on Daily Deal Media