It’s always nice for businesses to bring new customers on board, sure, but it’s not the only way to boost revenue. Targeting your existing customers, for instance, can be just as lucrative. Throw in the fact that marketing to existing customers can be considerably more cost-effective, and it becomes clear that spending a little time and energy nurturing your current crop of customers can make a whole lot of sense.
In this post, we’re going to run through some essential tips for marketing to your existing customers, including how to do it and the benefits that businesses can expect.
Offer Discounts
Your existing customers have already shown that they have an interest in your business. And if they’ve bought more than once, then they’ll have a lot of interest in your brand. In that scenario, they’re really only a short jump away from making another purchase, so why not give them a helping hand? Offering your existing customers a small discount can be enough to convince them to make another order.
If, for whatever reason, offering a fixed discount isn’t a viable option, then you can also consider starting a loyalty program, which will give your customers money off their future orders, with bigger orders qualifying for a more substantial discount.
Personalised Recommendations
Another way to encourage your existing customers to get out their credit cards and make another order is to show them products that they may be interested in. The more specific, the better. You can use your customer’s previous orders as a way to offer personalised recommendations which, provided the recommendation algorithm you use is good, should show them items that are clearly aligned with their interests and needs.
You can use personalised recommendations in the marketing materials that you send to your existing customers, but you can also use the software to show recommended products during the checkout process, too, which should lead to an increase in order values.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a tried-and-tested, cost-effective marketing strategy. And when you send well-put-together emails to existing customers? Then you have a powerful tool that can be a driving force for increased revenue.
Your existing customers are already receptive to what you have to say. Unleashing the power of email marketing allows you to keep your brand at the forefront of their minds and boost sales, all the while staying within budget. Of course, brands can’t simply send a marketing email and hope that it works. By adopting effective email marketing optimization practices, brands can ensure that their emails are received, opened, and actioned. It often takes some trial and error to land on an email marketing approach that works, but once you have, you’ll find that email marketing forms a valuable part of your overall marketing strategy.
Product Tutorials
Hosting how-to guides and product tutorial guides is an underrated way for brands to market to existing customers. This type of content marketing won’t necessarily lead to a direct increase in sales, but it can build customer loyalty and increase the chances that they’ll make further purchases in the future.
By putting together valuable, easily accessible information, you’ll be helping to drive product usage, which in turn can lead to an increase in product satisfaction and help boost customer retention. You can also subtly promote new products that work in conjunction with the original being discussed.
This approach can actually also help brands snag new customers, too, since this type of content can be excellent for boosting SEO, which can help new potential customers discover your brand.
Host a Customer Appreciation Event
Everyone wants to feel valuable — and that includes customers. While it won’t be suitable for all types of brands, businesses that can host a customer appreciation event will find that they can enhance brand loyalty, make additional sales, and also collect feedback that can be used to improve customer relations.
There are a few different types of customer-focused events that businesses can host, and you don’t have to spend the earth. A small pop-up event that gives existing customers a sneak peek into new products or in-person workshops that offer valuable skills are two good options. In some cases, the event doesn’t even have to be specifically about your business. For example, you could host a charity or volunteering event relating to an issue thematically connected to the brand.
Run a Reactivation Campaign
We mentioned how to use marketing emails to keep existing customers engaged, but there’s also another way that brands can use emails. Reactivation campaigns, in which brands send emails to customers who have fallen off the radar, can be an effective way to bring people who once had an interest in your business back into the fold.
Often, people forget about a brand not because they no longer like it, but just because life got in the way. A reactivation campaign is a chance to remind the ex-customer that you still exist. They’re relatively easy to put together, yet can be extremely effective. Just like that, you’ll have brought what feels like a new customer on board.
The Benefits of Marketing To Existing Customers
As we’ve seen, there are countless ways to market your brand to existing customers. So is it worth your time? We think yes, it’s absolutely worth the effort — and here are three reasons why.
More Cost Effective
New customers are great, but they can be expensive to reach and convert. Marketing to existing customers is around five times cheaper than marketing to new customers and also offers a better ROI — in fact, the ROI could be as high as $40 for every dollar spent.
Saves Time
It’s easier to market to people who you know already have an interest in your brand. Marketing teams can get a marketing campaign up and running much more quickly than when marketing to a new audience.
Earn More Customers
Nurturing customer relationships through marketing drives loyalty, which in turn increases the likelihood that they’ll recommend you to their friends and family. So by marketing to existing customers, you might actually earn new customers, too.
