ARE YOU AFRAID TO TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?

In the past much “talk” was given to a direct marketing principle called contact strategy analysis.  What that means in layman’s terms is determining how often and when to reach your customers based on previous sales information.  In other words, using this approach you only contact your customers based upon their past purchase history, so a customer who only purchases during holidays would only be contacted during that season and so on.  The theory here was to maximize marketing dollars and tight budgets.

 Times Have Changed. 

 In the past two years many of you have reduced the frequency of your campaigns for all the reasons which we will not get into detail here.  If you go to your mailbox you will see this first-hand.  But funny things are happening, the consumer is coming back, albeit slowly, and buying!  Buying because they haven’t been for a while and it is our nature to do so.  With or without you they will be back.  So what are you doing about it?

 #1 – Reach out to your customers.  If you aren’t, your competitors are or will be shortly.  Consumers are hungry for deals to satisfy their buying urges, and again have saved up some money to meet those needs.  It’s funny, instead of you creating a sense of urgency with them; they are the ones who are creating it.  So meet their needs.  Even those who you consider your best customers (highest RFM) need to hear from you now.  In the past this segment would buy from you regardless.  Now they want to know that you’re still in business to start with and that you value them and can meet their needs, both emotionally and tangibly. 

Your older buyers were once buyers from you.  So you need to find out if they are still buying products like yours but just not from you.  There are several ways to do this and if you contact me we can discuss the methods to identify them. 

 #2 – Service is a lost practice.  You need to make it easy for them to return to you and more importantly buy from you.  Shipping incentives, in store pick-up, loyalty rewards, anything and everything should be considered to make your customers feel special again.  You have four marketing channels to interact with your customers.  Use them all but pay attention to which channels they choose to interact with you.

 #3 – Build up your brand.  Many of you “went away” for a while.  Your customers need reassurance that you’re still there for them.  More frequent contact now as opposed to selective contact will get you there.  Most of you have noticed that your house file is stagnant at best or probably has decreased over the past two years.  For your survival, that trend needs to stop but will only do so through increased contact with your customers and reaching out to potential customers, something of a lost art called prospecting. 

 #4 – Thank them for their business.  How? – By telling them.  As I said many times before, the more quickly you reach your buyers after a purchase, the higher the future response rate is.  And if you personalize the piece in some fashion the responses are even higher.  Why wouldn’t you make this a standard part of your business practice?

 Again, the time is now.  Create the sense of urgency with your customers and they will respond.

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