Tips & Talk 40 – Make Your Customer the Star!

Hi there.

It's Sue.

And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

If you'd like to submit a topic,

DME over on Instagram at gift biz,

unwrapped, making a customer feel special is where it's at.

Think about your experience from the customer end.

Most of the time when you buy something in a retail

shop, for sure,

but also online.

It's a one and done transaction.

You make the purchase,

get a thank you or a confirmation that the order has

been received.

And that's it no further communication.

And if there is any,

it's probably a bounce back discount to place another order.

Now don't get me wrong.

That additional discount is great,

but it's very sterile and transaction oriented.

There's no connection being formed between you and that business.

Any sales after that are going to be initiated by you,

the customer,

if you feel so great about the product that you want

more, or you remember that company name when it's time to

buy a gift,

think now of yourself as the business owner,

if you're conducting business this way,

that's leaving a lot up to chance.

What if you could control this interaction in a better way?

How about changing the sale from being solely a business transaction

into a friendly,

warm interaction that can lead down the road to a mutually

supportive relationship.

This is what you do when you make your customer the

star. When you add an emotional layer to your customer interactions

that make them feel seen special and important by prompting these

feelings, your customers will move from purchasers to supporters.

And this leads to long-term growth for your business.

Here are things that you can start doing today to create

this type of relationship.

It goes without saying that when someone purchases online,

your checkout system provides a receipt and a confirmation of the

order in store,

you print out the receipt,

add it to the bag and thank them for the purchase.

This is nine times out of 10,

where the relationship ends.

You get your order in the mail,

or you walk out of the shop and done.

This is a critical juncture.

When taking action here allows for any of these other relationship

building activities to happen.

It's where you get their email address.

Let me say this again.

It's where you get their email address.

Whether you automatically have access to it because of their online

order, or you need to capture it in another way,

ask for that address,

then separate from the standard receipt,

send them a personal,

thank you.

Note by email,

obviously showing your appreciation for their order.

Write it as if you're writing to a friend.

I know there are lots of makers who put handmade.

Thank you notes inside their shipped boxes.

This is another spin on the idea.

The point here is it's personal and one-on-one,

this can also be an automated email triggered by a first

purchase tag,

but make the wording individualized.

And with the intent of them feeling appreciated and recognized as

being a new customer.

Next comes a check-in within the next couple of days after

product receipt,

you may have separate timing here for delivery of your emails.

If someone has purchased in-person versus online,

this would allow and take into account timing of delivery.

It's a followup of sorts to see how they like their

product. Do they have any questions on how to use it,

store it or wear it?

The nature of your question,

of course,

depends on your product.

Here's an important point.

Don't ask for anything in this email that feels manipulative and

self-serving, you can have your social buttons displayed in the email,

even a link if they'd like to leave a review,

but I'd wait to specifically ask for an action a little

bit down the road.

In this email,

you can share something about you and your business,

oh, behind the scenes peek,

but short and sweet.

All this leads into an entire email campaign,

which I won't get into.

Now, we have other episodes for that,

but I want to demonstrate here is how to get the

ball rolling for a personal relationship that leads to your customer

feeling important.

Again, not just like another transaction as your email,

communication continues,

positioning and wording is important.

Lots of people send out emails,

as you surely know.

I mean,

you get them all the time or they get lost in

that Gmail promotions folder.

What I want you to start communicating in your emails is

that by being on your special customer list,

they are in a select group.

They have early notice or special access to things that other

prospects don't get for you to be able to do this.

You'll want to have your email list separated into two categories,

one for customers and one for prospects.

And of course,

we're speaking specifically to your customers here.

Those who have taken that very important next step and purchased

from this is a huge action.

And the one we're always looking for,

right, to get people to buy.

So when they do,

they should move into a favored category and you should treat

them with a higher level of care.

But you have to tell them that they've achieved this status.

How else will they know the majority of businesses treat their

email list as one big group of names that makes messaging

bland and your ability to deliver a feeling of being important

and special as a result of their supporting you and your

business is impossible because everybody is thrown together in this one

big list.

So separate your list out into customers and prospects.

You can do this in pretty much every email service provider

these days.

Now, the next thing is for them to recognize that they've

been elevated into a deeper relationship with you,

that includes special perks.

And to do this,

you need to share with them the fact that first off

there is this special group and they're in it.

And then every time you do something,

just for them,

remind them that they get it first,

or they have exclusivity or whatever the case might be.

So you might be asking,

what are the things you offer that make them special?

Here are some ideas.

A first look at new collections.

First dibs at limited quantity products.

Let them be the ones who vote on the next flavor,

color or design.

You create call upon them to post pictures using your product.

And when they do,

they're entered into a special customer,

only raffle send special greetings over the holidays for those loyal

supporters of your brand.

I'm sure you can think of a million different ways that

you can reward your customers.

You may even take your top 20 customers of the year

and do something super extra for them taking it up.

Another notch,

get to know your customers personally,

who else runs a business.

Is there a way you can shout out and support their

business too?

What about collaborations?

You may find a home for your very first wholesale account

or create a joint product that you both sell for Valentine's

day or mother's day.

Or you can do a live show on social and expand

your following by being exposed to the other person's audience and

vice versa.

There is so much opportunity that awaits when you treat your

customer as a star,

and to think all of this is possible and starts right

at the beginning,

by ensuring a transition past the transactional first sale.

This is done by creating a connection with an email and

building on that relationship.

From there,

things that you can't even imagine right now are possible.

After that,

that's a wrap.

Guess what?

Today's my birthday.

I love celebrations of all kinds,

including my special day.

You know what you could do to help me celebrate.

If you've gotten value out of this show,

please go over and leave a rating and review that helps

me spread the word so that the show can be seen

by more makers.

And I can only do this with your help.

It would be a great birthday gift to me.

Thanks. I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

of yours.

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