Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar shop or an online store, you spend a good deal of time on PR, advertising, shop hops, classes, and special events designed to get people through your physical or virtual doors. Previous Panning for Gold columns have discussed how to attract people to your website, how to merchandise online, and how to lead a customer to buy from you. But making a sale is not the sole goal. How can you turn that transaction into a lifelong customer relationship? How do you keep your customers coming back again and again?
Most store owners have a good idea what to do to cultivate solid customer relationships in a physical store. This is done by your friendly staff providing great products and exemplary service so that customers want to return. With careful thought, you can provide the same things for your online customers.
You want to be one of the go-to stores in your customers’ minds, but how can you create customer loyalty online? How can you get newsletter subscribers who can’t wait to open your next newsletter? How can you be one of the first stores your customers think of when they need something? These are good questions to ask yourself and your staff as you brainstorm ways you can translate customer service and quality in an online environment.
In survey after survey, “loyalty programs” rank far down on the lists of reasons for a customer to purchase from you and be loyal to you. Highest on the list are customer service, quality, and selection. Let’s look at the ways you can boost these qualities in your online business.
Be Available to Shoppers
Many websites are designed for transactions only. How can you tell? There is no phone number or contact information in a visible place on the website. It’s as if customer interaction is discouraged. Such a website doesn’t seem friendly and will not lend itself to building long-term customer relationships.
Would you have a relationship with a friend you don’t quite trust? The same thing applies to a store. You need to create trust for the relationship to blossom.
When I see a website with no easy way to contact the store, I am immediately turned off. If the website makes it hard for me to make contact or ask questions in the buying process, then what must it be like if there is a problem?
The alternative is to encourage emails and telephone calls. Display your phone number in a prominent place on your website. Display your email address in your Contact Us section. Don’t merely have a link to Outlook since many people do not use Outlook and will be frustrated if they can’t simply copy your email address into their own email system.
This contact information gives you an opportunity to be of service to new and returning customers. Even if you don’t have what the customer is looking for, you can recommend another solution or even provide a referral to another store or FabShop Search. This is exactly what you’d do if you had the customer in your store, right? Go out of your way to be helpful, and people will think of you the next time they need something.
We have many folks who call the store because they have a question about something. “How much fabric will I need for the borders of my queen-size quilt?” “How much backing should I order?” “I saw this blue fabric online; how does this look with this other fabric?” This is a grand opportunity to help your customers and to cement your relationship. While they are on the phone, have your printed order pad handy and take their order right then.
Show That You Care
Thanks to the Internet, shoppers can often find the products they’re looking for on a wide range of sites. Yet, just as in the “real” world, people respond to thoughtful gestures that show that you care about their business. Try these ideas:
Offer individual attention. Did your customer order 9 to 11 yards of 45” fabric? Likely, this is for backing or curtains. Call or email the customer to find out if they would like that big yardage cut into three equal pieces. Many stores will not do this, so you can set yourself apart by making this offer. Your customers will appreciate your thoughtfulness and it will be easier for your staff to fold and package the order.
Fulfill all orders quickly, but carefully. If you package each order with care, the customer will notice. Too many stores simply stuff the merchandise in the package haphazardly and it arrives at the customer doorstep looking as if you didn’t care. Have procedures for folding and packaging so anyone on your staff can create a nice-looking presentation of your products. When a customer opens your package, it should feel special.
Send an offer of help. Put a “Got a Question?” bag stuffer in each order you send out to your customers and list your telephone number and email address—and then be available to listen to your customers and help them with their sewing and quilting questions.
Say thank you. This could be a simple handwritten thank-you on the packing slip, or it could be a handwritten card. It could be an email. I have found that when I email a customer to say thank you and that we appreciate their order, I get emails back saying that they rarely hear this from other stores. This is such a simple thing to do, and it makes customers feel good about their purchase from your store.
Add a gift to the order. Many stores put a little “surprise” in each package. It could be a fat quarter. It could be a promotional ruler for all orders over $100. It could be a customized business card or bookmark you’ve designed with valuable quilting information on one side. It could be a free pattern (be sure to check copyright first) from a fabric vendor. Create something your customer will value and want to keep for a long time.
IDEA Insert a free Clover Holiday Yo-yo Tree project sheet (Item CT0039 from Checker Distributors) in each order this month, with a coupon to purchase Clover yo-yo makers and a kit of fabrics to make the yo-yo trees. Also be sure to put a store address label on the project sheet to remind the customer where it came from.
Accept Orders as “Authorized”
Most merchant systems have an option for accepting transactions as “authorized” rather than collecting the payment right away. Here are a few circumstances in which this is good for both you and your customers:
Yardage shortage. If the customer orders 5 yards and you have only 4 yards + 34 inches left, this gives you a chance to call or email the customer and correct the order totals before processing the payment.
Out of stock. If you are out of an item and can’t ship it right away, you can contact the customer to see if they are willing to wait until more comes in.
Shipping charges. If your shopping cart calculates a shipping charge and you can send it for less, you can reduce it and save your customer money. This is useful since charges based on weight and dollar amount (the most common methods for calculating shipping charges) don’t always work out. For example, a customer who orders 10 patterns at $10 each should have a much lower shipping charge than the customer who orders 10 yards of $10/yard fabric.
Choosing to accept orders in an “authorized” state will save you and your customers many headaches and you will avoid creating ill will and the hassle of issuing refunds if something needs to be changed on the order.
OFFER ONLINE BLOCK-OF-THE-MONTH PROGRAMS
Many shops have told me that their block-of-the-month participation has fallen off dramatically in the last few years, to the point that they are wondering if it is worth the effort to offer them. I think the traditional in-store BOM meetings may be a thing of the past for many stores. It’s hard to gather any group of people at a specific place and time, given everyone’s busy schedules.
Offering BOM programs online may be an option for you instead. We have grown our BOM business from a very small number of local customers to a very large percentage of customers located in all 50 states and around the world. BOM programs currently bring in about 28 percent of our overall revenue—revenue that wasn’t there before—and this number is growing.
One of the big benefits of offering BOM programs online is that you don’t need to make a sample. A good-quality image will be just fine.
With online BOM programs, you have the opportunity to interact with these customers each month, further building your relationship with them. This presumes, of course, that you offer a quality product with good instructions and adequate fabric, and have someone available to help customers if they have questions or run into problems with their project. We have found that our BOM customers are very loyal and will purchase more BOM programs and additional fabric and notions as time goes on. If your customers’ experience with you results in successful projects, they will be back.
Follow Up With Customers
Remember, making a sale is not the only goal of your online business. How can you turn that transaction into a long-term customer relationship? Try these ideas to engage customers in conversation after they’ve made a purchase:
Call the customer. A week after you’ve sent their package, follow up with a phone call to verify that they received their package and are happy with their purchase. They will be surprised to hear from you and will certainly remember you the next time they shop online. Ask them how you can improve your service.
Offer help on block-of-the-month programs. For customers who order a BOM program, call and thank them for the order, review the program, and answer any questions they may have for you.
Turn goofs into positive experiences. If you make a mistake on an order, apologize for it, and be aggressive in solving the problem. Many times the mistake is quickly forgotten, but your prompt resolution will be remembered as an example of great customer service.
Keep Customers Coming Back
It is important to maintain the relationship after the sale through support and additional campaigns back to customers who have already purchased from you. Collecting good customer data will help you gather the information you need to communicate with customers on topics they are interested in.
Add new customers to your regular mailing list. In your newsletters, be sure to ask them to provide their phone number and email address, “like” you on Facebook, and follow your blog and Pinterest boards.
Segment your customer mailing list. You should have a general mailing list that includes everyone. Then create additional specialized lists: a local list for anyone within 50 miles, a state list for anyone who might be interested in attending your next shop hop, people who have purchased block-of-the-month programs, and so on.
Analyze your email newsletter statistics and surveys. Which topics and links are people clicking on? What have people told you in surveys? Put folks who are interested in Civil War fabric on a special Civil War list and send relevant newsletters to them. Be sure that people who have previously purchased a block-of-the-month program are sent information about future BOM programs. Whether you are communicating via email, blogs, or Facebook, communicate about topics they are interested in. If you like 1930s quilts and I continually send you information about moderns, you probably don’t want to hear from me in the future.
Who is buying, and what are they buying? We have certain customers who are fanatical about new rulers. Even if there are three rulers that will do the same thing, they will buy all three. These folks appreciate knowing about the latest and greatest rulers to add to their collection.
Reward existing customers. Make them feel special. Make sure that existing customers are coded to an existing customer list. You may also have a VIP list for your most important customers. If you are planning a sale, send a special email several days in advance and let your existing customers shop first. Or you may routinely offer existing customers a special discount coupon for a specific item or a percent off their entire order.
Use each subsequent transaction as a stepping stone to a long-term customer relationship. Any opportunity to communicate with the customer is a good thing. You’ve read several examples earlier in this article. Circumstances like these give you an opportunity to contact the customer, find a solution, and build the relationship. Your promptness and professionalism will be appreciated.
Use Facebook Groups to Expand Relationships
We recently implemented a four-month Mystery Quilt program in three colorways—light, medium, or dark background—and set up a special mailing list to provide updates and answer questions for our mystery quilters. I then set up a Facebook “secret” group and invited all the participants to join this group.
The interaction between the members of this group with each other and with our store has been amazing and took us a bit by surprise. We are seeing folks from opposite sides of the country becoming buddies online, one person offering to do binding on another person’s quilt, good-natured ribbing when someone goofs, and all sorts of things that might happen in any group if they were in the same room together. They are having great fun and the posts are flying back and forth at a great pace.
It has taken a lot of time to monitor the posts, but this has been illuminating. We are seeing people order products via Facebook posts, and I have to make sure we don’t miss anything. (“I like fabric 2 in Clue #1, can I get more of it?” or “I need a Tri-Recs ruler. What do you recommend?” or “I saw some of the Dr. Seuss fabric online. Can you put 4 yards of that in with my next clue?”)
When we asked folks to post what they had done so far online, not only did this spur a number of posts, but we got more orders. (“Hey, can I order another one just like Becky’s?” or “I’m doing the dark background, but now that I’m seeing the other colorways, I want to do them all. Can you please send me the other two as quickly as possible.”)
The most important thing is that we have created this fun program. Customers are now saying that they want to be a part of whatever we come up with next. That’s relationship building!
Create Value for Your Customers
The best strategy for building relationships and getting customers to come back? Make sure each customer has a
positive experience in every interaction in the store or with every order via telephone or online. Take every opportunity to build lasting relationships.
If your online sales strategy is to have the lowest prices, you will ultimately lose. Someone somewhere will always offer a lower price. If you are creating online sales by dropping your prices, you will attract only transactional sales. You cannot build a long-term business on transactional sales.
Sit down with a piece of paper and ask yourself how you and your store currently add value for your customers. Make a list of what you do best. Now look at that list and see how you might apply that to your online store. Create an online environment that is as close as possible to your in-store environment. Make it your goal to provide something of value with each transaction.
Take a hard look at your business processes, your product selection, the quality of your staff, and the service they provide. Treat your customers in the way you would like to be treated. Create or revise your vision statement and work to make your name a trusted brand. Train your employees to provide the level of service you’ve outlined and concentrate on building relationships with all your customers.
And when the repeat orders and glowing recommendations come in, ask your customers if you can quote them!
KEEP IN TOUCH AND IN FRONT OF YOUR CUSTOMERS
Bag stuffers
Blogs
Email
Facebook
Facebook groups
Online order stuffers
Fliers
Pinterest
QR codes
Telephone
Twitter
PARTICIPATE IN FABSHOP HOPS
We have found that the online FabShop Hops have brought us the most referrals and the most customers in the two years we have participated in the hops. Not only has this resulted in online sales, but an amazing number of customers have called us out of the blue to ask questions (how much fabric will I need for backing, etc.). When we ask how they found us, it’s almost always FabShop Hop.
The online exposure your shop can get from monthly participation is well worth the cost. A customer may not purchase from you right away, but your store will be in front of them month after month as they play. If you make their “Bunny Hop” fun, they will think of your website when they are looking for their next project.
Consider these elements in your decision-making about participating in FabShop Hop:
Referral business. In Google Analytics Traffic Sources, we have seen a correlation between the number of FabShop referrals and the increase in the number of people who come directly to our site. Website visitors coming to us directly account for about the same number as those coming in through a Google, Bing or Yahoo search combined. These direct visitors are not just returning customers; often they are FabShop Hop participants who are not yet customers. There is no way we could have the number of direct visitors we have without their first finding us via FabShop.
Gift certificates. Each participating shop provides gift certificates, generally 10 gift certificates at $10 each. Rather than look at this only as an expense, look at it as an excellent opportunity for people to shop on your website. In addition to the FabShop notification emails, we like to send out congratulatory emails to our FabShop winners and welcome them to shop in our store. At this time we also invite them to join our email list, “like” us on Facebook, and so on.
FabShop Favorites. The FabShop Hop enables customers to designate their favorite shops. This helps us since some people tell us that they don’t want emails because they have too much email already. Being on their FabShop Favorite list is a way for them to remember us as one of their go-to shops.
The “You Found It” bunny. There is no point in hiding the bunny so thoroughly that you frustrate your potential customers. So make the bunny easy to find on your site. You want to make each interaction with your store a pleasant experience.