It is really a time consuming process to get in conversation with each and every customer on your website and is also not a very efficient technique to build loyal customer base. But, it is equally important to build a friendly relationship with your loyal customers. For a simple eCommerce store with very less number of daily visitors like mine – The South Indian Store, it is really easy to find a loyal customer. I keep track of all those who came back to my site after their first purchase. I rank them based upon their number of visits, number of purchases made, how often they visit, etc. Yeah, I do study the analytics a lot…These ranking helps me determine the most loyal customers who are really willing to buy from my store again. I constantly remain in touch with them through Facebook, twitter, emails, phone calls and try to understand their background, their likes, how influential they are, what possible business opportunity I might have with them, etc.
Here I would like to quote an example of one such loyal customer who purchased South Indian Snacks from my store 5-6 times in the last 3 months. Through my Facebook page, I came to know more about her and her talent. She and her husband liked wildlife and food photography and they also created a Facebook page where they used to share all their clicks. I went through those images and really liked their creativity and the quality of their clicks. Meanwhile, I was also searching for product photographs on the internet to be displayed on my website. But the images I found were either too costly or there weren’t enough of them that matched my needs. So, I thought of contacting my customer to discuss my requirements. Before proceeding, I also had a chat with Darshan regarding the same and he also supported my idea. Darshan.. Thanks a ton man!! I came into an agreement with my customer – She would click product images for me and I would send her free samples of each item so that she could click the images. Apart from the free samples, I also gave her some special privilege on my website like – Free shipping on all orders and additional 2% discount on any purchase, etc. She agreed and you can see the result here.
I got high resolution product images with full rights over them without spending much. Also, this act helped me increase the trust factor that my customer had on me and my store. She also sent few referrals to my store and they are also my returning customers now. So, the whole concept of identifying a loyal customer, engaging with them and utilizing their skills helped me increase my profit exponentially.
Moral – Keep track of all your visitors and customers. Identify repeat customers and try to engage with them. Identify the business opportunities you can have with them. When needed, involve your customers in building your business and it will help you in several ways.
Anoop Nair (Co-Founder | The South Indian Store, Selling South Indian Snacks online )