8 Fun Creative Ways To Engage Your Past Customers & Multiply Returning Sales On Repeat

brand direction & styling by us for Urban Beauty Loft | photo by Aimi Photography

Did you know studies show that getting a new customer costs anywhere between 5 to 25 times more than keeping your existing customers? (Gallo, 2014) That is a lot of marketing and sales budget going down the drain.

According to the book Marketing Metrics by Paul Farris, a repeat customer has a  60% to 70% chance of converting. This means that the more repeat customers you have, the more sales you get while spending less on marketing conversion tactics compared to going after new customers.

Now, you may be wondering how you can incentivize your past customers to come back to you and purchase from you again, and your first thought might be giving out discounts. However, the discounting tactic should be used with caution because discounting too much not only lowers your sales margin, but it also lowers people’s perceived value of your brand, which would impact customer loyalty and sales in the long term.

What are some other tactics you can apply in your business to nurture relationships with your past customers and turn them into loyal repeat customers? Here are 8 creative ways to engage them and multiply your returning sales:

Idea 1. Stay Connected

Every time you’ve delivered your products or services, remember to invite customers to follow you on social, join your email newsletter, and check out wherever else you’re present online. This way, you can stay in touch with them, send them future updates, and add value to them on an ongoing basis through your content, which helps build further connections. By maintaining direct communication through an email newsletter, you can also send them exclusive offers (see ideas below) that keep you on the top of their mind.

Idea 2. Bonus

Besides customer-exclusive discounts, entice them to purchase by offering a bonus with purchase. It can be free shipping for your product, or a bonus product, service, video, or downloadable that takes their experience with your products or services to the next level and helps them make the most of their purchase. Make sure that this is a bonus that they would want and value.

Idea 3. Events

Invite your past customers to exclusive online or offline events that help enhance their overall experience with what you sell. Depending on your product or service, you can create workshops, demonstrations, discussion panels, conferences, networking events, and anything else that aligns with your business and what your customers want. Make this event exclusive to only past customers, giving them the perception of having an insider status. Access to the event can be granted to past customers at a fee or offered with purchase.

Idea 4. Subscription

Curated a subscription offer to incentivize the loyal, VIP customers who want to buy from you or work with you further. For products, this can be in the form of subscription boxes that are provided on a monthly or seasonal basis. For services, this can be a subscription or membership with access to your ongoing services and support.

Idea 5. Priority access

Give past customers priority access to your latest product collection or new service offer. If this is offered on a first-come, first-served basis, you can also create an urgency to purchase before the offer is available to the public and sold out.

Idea 6. Encourage user-generated content

Invite and remind your customers to share their experience with your products or services through photos, videos, or texts and also feature this content from them across the social media accounts of your brand and via email newsletter. Although this is not a direct sales tactic, this can be a powerful emotional tactic. With a section such as “customer spotlight,” you can make people who are featured feel seen and heard, further deepening their emotional connection with your brand.

Idea 7. Ask & listen proactively

Incorporate the practice to ask for your past customers’ feedback regularly about how you can make their experience even better. Then respond and take into their requests and suggestions if they benefit your target customers and business. While this isn’t a direct sales tactic, this is extremely effective to make people feel heard, which leads to trust and loyalty.

Idea 8. Show appreciation

Send thank you cards to customers to show them your appreciation. This is a straightforward way to leave a great impression at the end of each of their experience with you. If you offer ongoing services or product subscriptions, consider sending holiday cards and gifts regularly to not only show that you care but also help you stay on the top of people’s minds. And whenever someone they know is looking for products or services like yours, you will be the first one they refer.

Besides getting you higher sales margins, here are all the key reasons why happy customers are crucial and how they put your business on steroids.

Want to build a community around your brand? Here are the 3 steps to start building your group of raving fans.

And if you’re looking to uplevel your brand experience, check out the 3 unspoken myths of customer experience you should stop believing, and uncover the 3 secrets to wow your customers!

Losing profits because of all the discounts you’ve given out? Here are 5 ways to skyrocket your sales and break away from deep discounts.

Join our FREE training, so you know how to grow your profitable brand people love AND a loyal customer community who keep buying from you!

Gallo, Amy. “The Value of Keeping the Right Customers.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 5 Nov. 2014, hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers.