How to Invite Fans to Join Your Club
It is relatively easy to efficiently leverage your store's fan club to increase customer loyalty and drive sales up - even in traditionally slow months.
But, before you can do that you have to discover exactly who your fans
are. To do that you must ask them.
Suppose you had just six pieces of information about every customer who either visited your store or who made a purchase in your store.
1. Name
2. Mailing Address
3. City
4. State
5. Zip
6. Email Address
How could you use this information to increase customer loyalty - and increase sales -- for your store?
But more immediately, how do you capture this information from customers?
Let's replay the typical sales scenario described earlier.
A customer walks up to your POS with merchandise to be purchased and the conversation goes something like this:
I this scenario above we have emphasized the word "email" because that information is actually more important than the mailing address.
If the customer has no email address - or chooses not to give it to you - then that's fine.
That just means you haven't established enough trust, yet.
With a mailing address you will have many opportunities to earn that trust and get him or her on your email list.
What Do You Accomplish By Asking Fans to Join?
In the example above we've actually accomplished four objectives.
First, we found out whether there was anything that the customer did not find in your store ("Were you able to find everything...?"). If the answer were "No" then you would have another opportunity to assist the customer and possibly make a sale.
Second, we found out -- with relative certainty -- whether this was the customer's first visit to the store ("Are you a Preferred Customer member?").
There is a chance that the customer has visited before and declined the offer to become a Preferred Member, but that chance is likely minimal if the offer is made compelling enough.
Third, assuming the customer "opts-in" to the Preferred Customer club then you have virtually guaranteed a return visit to the store to redeem the gift certificate.
Finally, if the customer opts-in to membership then you have everything you need to extend the purchase experience beyond the physical store itself.
By giving you the information you have requested you have the customer's permission to offer him or her the exclusive benefits of membership in your store's fan club.
The purpose of those benefits will be to heighten the customer's loyalty to your store.
Learn
more about "Other Methods for Capturing Customer Information" >>
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For more information about Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores (OMS/RS) services offered by MELCOOPER Consulting please call us today at 1-866-695-8669 or visit our website at
http://melcooper.com.
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