Marketing to your current customers
When many companies start thinking about their marketing strategy, they often ask how to get in front of new customers.
They often forget about the customers they’ve already got. This particular segment already knows who you are and what product or service you offer.
Why you need to think of marketing as an investment
Why should you market to your current customers?
Increased Retention & Loyalty
Once you’ve successfully got a customer, you’ve done the hardest part. Now all you have to do is retain them.
Why do you want to retain them? Your chance of successfully selling to customers who’ve already bought from you is 60-70% higher than selling to a new customer.
After all, a happy customer is much more likely to come back and buy from you again.
Why are loyal customers beneficial to your business?
Once you’ve retained a customer, and they’re happy with your product or services, they are more likely to remain loyal to you. They might think of it as risky for them to try an alternative brand or product. This is because their experience with a new brand, product or even service could be negative.
This can lead to more repeat purchases, and increase chances of them telling their friends & family about your business (Word of mouth), and talking about their experience online and on social media.
Simply put, keeping your current customer base engaged and happy means more money in your pocket in the long run.
Increase Revenue
Increasing your customer retention means you’ll increase revenue. Your repeat customers will spend around 67% more than new customers on average. It is also 5x more expensive to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current one!
Your current customers are typically more reliable buyers, which means it’s easier to up the number of upsell opportunities and add-ons. All your other marketing offers are likely to lead to more sales from your current customers.
How customer personas help you target buyers better
4 tactics to sell to your current customers
1. How a Newsletter can help with engagement
Having a newsletter can you help you communicate with your customers. You can keep them updated with what your company is doing, or even share some valuable tips they might find useful can make sure that you stay on top of the customer’s mind!
You could also use this newsletter to announce new products, and upcoming events and even add social proof through reviews and testimonials!
2. Using Loyalty Schemes to collect data and encourage sales
Customer loyalty schemes have become very popular in recent years. This is because of many reasons, such as how they help your customers keep coming back for more!
It’s not just because of this they’re becoming popular. They are able to provide you with 1st party data that you can’t get anywhere else, which is more important than ever with 3rd part data quickly becoming phased out.
Real examples of loyalty schemes used in marketing to current customers
Tesco is a great example of this, as we’re sure you’ve already heard. By offering (much!) cheaper prices for their club card members, they are able to keep their customers returning to spend more money with them.
Your loyalty scheme doesn’t have to be as big – you could offer rewards based on your number of purchases, for example, a free cup of coffee once you buy 5!
5 marketing models to help you create a winning strategy
3. How Personalised emails can increase revenue
Emails are a great way to communicate with your customers. It’s also one of the best strategies when measuring ROI – offering a return of $36 for every $1 spent on average!
Here are 2 ways you can use email to market to your past customers.
– Birthdays emails
By sending a simple email wishing them ‘happy birthday’ with an offer or a freebie, you could generate a sale.
Research has found birthday emails have 179% higher unique click rates than promotional emails – so this is a good opportunity to take advantage of!
– Offer emails
Giving a customer an offer will increase the chances of them using it, but how can you go one step further? Personalise it.
79% of consumers say they are only likely to engage with an offer if it has been personalized to reflect previous interactions the consumer has had with the brand.
For example, if you know that your customer has bought a pair of shoes recently, you could use this opportunity to up-sell shoe protectors.
Easy ways to improve customer engagement with marketing automation
4. Create a community
Another way to market to your current customer is to give them a community to engage with. If they have bought a product from you, chances are that they will have a lot in common with another person who’s bought it as well.
You could create a group on social media, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. This will give them a community where they can feel like they belong.
An example of how community building can be used in marketing to your current customers
A good example of community building comes from Harley-Davidson, who has created a community of over a million through their ‘H.O.G.™ Membership’.
They provide an exclusive community for those who own their bikes and host events and meet-ups, which makes the customer feel like a bigger part of the brand.
11 ways to improve your social media engagement rate
Want to engage with your current customers?
Copper Bay Digital is a digital agency that provides digital marketing, website design, custom development, and app building. We’ve helped many clients reach their current customers through email, social media, and PPC.
The first step is to speak with us to discuss your marketing brief. We can then put together a quotation for your custom needs.
