Happy customers are the fuel that stokes the engine of your business. When you build a loyal community of customers, you set up the life support system your business needs to not merely survive, but to thrive long term.
Read on for inexpensive ideas to delight your customers and keep them coming back for more.
14 Ways to Show UR Customers Some Love
- Offer future-use coupons to loyal customers. Give it an expiration date to increase urgency.
- Throw in a free gift. This is a nifty way to repurpose slow-moving or aging inventory.
- Ask top customers to review your store online; send a small gift and handwritten thank you note.
- Offer free gift wrapping around peak holidays.
- Throw a Customer Appreciation Party! Offer bonus buys, discounts, and in-store goodies to new and loyal customers.
- Make small talk. Ask customers what they like, and what you should carry in your store.
- Launch a loyalty program.
- Offer referral rewards — your customers get a bonus, and their friend gets one, too.
- Offer individually wrapped candy at the register. #yum
- Choose a Customer of the Day, snap their picture and post online, and offer them a $5 gift card toward their next purchase.
- Greet every customer upon entry, and thank every visitor for stopping by — whether they made a purchase or not.
- Partner with a favorite local charity. Your customers will feel good about supporting a cause, and you’ll build loyalty points.
- Offer Birthday Rewards. Track this info in your POS system, or customer relations platform, or on social media.
- Schedule an extended shopping hour or two after regular business hours for loyal customers, by invitation only. Offer snacks.
