This is an area which is at the heart of much of what we do as internet marketers. Issues relating to this have inevitably raised their heads in some of my other articles. Once you have made an initial contact with a potential customer via your website, mailshot or email promotion how do you turn their interest into a subscription or even a sale? The internet is a very impersonal place to do business which creates problems when it comes to establishing a relationship with an interested party. Here then are a number of ways to turn your browser into a loyal customer.
First of all,
always give quality, even with front end products or free items. If their first experience of dealing with you is a disappointment your customer will not be back. Even if the item costs them nothing, a potential customer has a right to expect an item or service of quality. Indeed, if you want them to come back for more, this is an absolute essential.
Internet marketers tend to under promise and over deliver. Again, the remoteness of our dealings with customers gives us issues of communication. If customers are satisfied with what they receive they will feel no need to try to communicate with us to complain. There will always be the occasional customer who finds a product not to his or her taste and asks for a refund under the 100% guarantee. This is no problem and can usually be dealt with simply and easily – and always without a quibble. If we offer quality products and over deliver there is a good chance our business and products will be recommended by satisfied customers to their friends and colleagues.
Bonuses are a very important part of online selling. These should always be quality products or services which enhance the main purchase. Try to make the bonus item match the product being purchased. To give away a free manual for a Ford Escort would not make a sensible bonus for a purchase in the niche of Italian Cookery. A good bonus will increase the value of the purchase and enhance the product in the eyes of the customer. This makes your customer more content with the sale and more likely to return. They will see you as someone they can trust which is obviously a great step forward in establishing a relationship with that person.
This brings us to that important issue of building a relationship with a customer. Like me, I imagine you have certain local businesses you regularly use because you trust them to meet your needs and always give you excellent service. After a while you get to know the person or people involved and something akin to a friendship develops; you may well be on first name terms with the people you are dealing with. Quite simply, you feel comfortable dealing with them. The same thing applies with an online business. Because of the remoteness it is a little more difficult to establish such a relationship in the impersonal environment of the internet. Any communication with a customer must be helpful yet unobtrusive; any products or services provided must be of the highest possible quality. Build that trust and the customer will come back to you again and again rather than trying another source of supply.
Do not see your List purely in terms of income, a group of ‘punters’ from whom to drag money in any way you can. Treat them that way and you will find that one morning you wake up to find that they aren’t there anymore. Send out regular emails with useful (free) information to your customer List. Suggest links to videos which might interest them within their niche. Newsletters are a great way to remain in contact without being a pest. The use of an Autoresponder is vital if you are to meet these particular commitments. Customers should look forward to opening anything you send, whether that is in a digital format or through the snail mail. When you have a new product to promote and offer it to your List they will be more responsive and much more likely to look at it in the right frame of mind. Whether they purchase or not, they will not feel that they are being taken advantage of. Look after your customers and they will look after you.
So, to summarise, if you treat customers as friends they will reciprocate. Show them trust and respect and they will show you trust and respect in return. This isn’t just about good business practice it is about good life skills too. Approach your business in this way and you will quickly turn the browsers who arrive on your website, probably by chance, into loyal and long-standing customers.