How to Improve Retention during Tough Times
Small businesses are struggling these days to retain customers. With the pie getting smaller and smaller and with bigger companies having the advantage of larger advertising budgets, it is no wonder that small businesses are struggling to not only acquire new customers but also retain existing ones. Customer relationship marketing more than ever plays a critical role in helping increase customer loyalty and retention.
Times like these require “out of the box” thinking and creativity. A company in my area is doing precisely that. The martial arts school that my daughter attends is using the power of relationship marketing to connect with their customers in a personal way that is not only increasing retention but also growing other sources of revenue. I shared with the school owners how to implement a relationship marketing plan with SendOutCards. Shortly after, they were sharing with me all the different creative ways they could use greeting cards to connect with their customers in more personal way making their child feel valued and appreciated.
It has now been about four months since they started using SendOutCards in a creative way. Shortly after my daughter’s belt examination we received a card in the mail with a picture of her on the cover of the card doing a flying side kick on a cool background that was probably done using Photoshop or some similar picture editing software. On the inside of the card there were two more pictures that the owner’s wife took of us the parents with our daughter holding her belt testing certificate and another of her with her best friend. There was also a heart felt handwritten note congratulating her for her accomplishment.
Below the signature line on the card was a post script that reminded us to stop by their website to check out the pictures from the ceremony and to order our prints by Friday to receive a 20% discount.
Lately we have also been receiving greeting cards from them thanking us for supporting the program and being such an integral part of our child’s education and development. If that was not enough both my daughter and spouse recently received personalized birthday cards from them with a picture of them on the outside of the card and a picture of the school owner and his wife on the inside of the card with a caption that said Happy Birthday. The birthday cards also included a post script below the signature line offering them a 20% discount on all purchases from the Pro-Shop during their birthday month.
The card that really impressed my daughter the most was when she referred a friend from school. Shortly after her friend signed up for classes not only did she receive a nice personalized handwritten thank you note but also a $25 gift certificate that came with the card. She was so excited she started telling everyone about how much fun it was doing martial arts. She is now hoping to get a few more friends from school to join them in martial arts.
Customer relationship marketing ideas like these are helping small businesses survive during tough economic times. The benefits of implementing a relationship marketing plan increase over time. So get started now. Refer to the relationship marketing tools and start using them today.
Posted in Success Stories