Easy Tips for Turning Once-off Buyers into Returning Customers

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One of the hardest things about owning a business is watching your customers walk away. Depending on the industry you’re in, it can be hard to retain customers. For example, if your business manufactures products that are used for a long period of time, you might not see that customer for a while or ever again—but the reality is, you need their business to keep things up and running.

Thankfully, there are some ways you can turn those one time buyers into loyal customers. In this post, we’re discussing some helpful tips to help you do just that.

Capture their attention

Before you can turn a single customer into a lifelong supporter, you’ll have to first capture the attention of your target audience. This step varies based on industry standards and, of course, how your target audience prefers to communicate.

Here are some creative ways you can score some new leads, no matter what kind of business you’re in:

Technology and medicine

Trade shows are really common in the technology and medical fields, but oftentimes companies go for the same booth setup and giveaways each time they attend a conference. Not only does this get boring for attendees, but it also makes you pretty forgettable. Try gifting items that are exciting or useful to potential new leads. Custom USB drives for example, are super handy and when you add your branding to it, the user will think of your company each time they use it or see it on their desk!

Consumer goods

Social media is practically synonymous with success these days, and lifestyle brands do it best. In order to secure the attention of scrollers, it’s important to make an impression! Use bold colors, creative themes, and informational content to turn leads into customers. If you want to take your targeting to the next level, consider adding cookies to your website and social media profiles so that you can retarget customers with ads. Just be sure to use a cookie consent banner to safeguard your business.

Answer important questions

If there’s one thing customers hate, it’s confusion. There’s nothing worse than receiving a product in the mail and having no idea how to use it or where to get help. Before your product is released to anyone in the world, you should do a little market research to get a better understanding of what questions your customers will ask and what information you need to provide them with to keep them coming back for more.

ProTip: Create a customized instruction card or contact card to include with your product so nothing’s unclear when it arrives at their doorstep.

But don’t forget about digital communication! Use a marketing automation system to keep in contact with recent customers and give them the opportunity to connect with you throughout their buyer’s journey. You can also send them a survey to ask how you can improve your customer service and product, which leads to our next tip….

Expand your products and services

Based on the responses you get from your customer survey, you can figure out how your customers might benefit from an expansion of products and/or services. This will not only help them enjoy your product more, but it can also take them from one time customer to regular status.

Provide excellent customer service

There’s truly nothing more important to a business than excellent and consistent customer service. In fact 66% of consumers would consider customer service to be very important to their loyalty to a brand. But how do you make sure each and every one of your customers is getting the same great level of service? It’s simple: great training and great recruiting. Each of your employees should be following the same procedure anytime they interact with a customer and their responses should be uniform and on-brand with your company’s culture.

Offer special deals

People love great deals! Reward your customers with seasonal discounts or rewards programs to encourage them to return for more. If you’re a brick and mortar shop, a stamp card program could be a great option. Or if you’re an online retailer, you may want to offer discounts on products that complement items your customer has already purchased.

Final notes

Retaining customers isn’t always easy, but if you use these tips you’ll find that your customers will be happier and your profit margins will almost surely be larger!