Keep In Touch!

How do you stay in contact with your customers? Here are some easy ways to really stand out from the crowd and keep your business in front of those who keep you in business!

1. Keep those contacts comin’! Make sure you make every effort to collect those pesky customer emails. I make sure to at minimum keep a sign up sheet by the register and an easy to use sign up box on our website too. Or! What about offering a drawing, raffle or other incentive to keep those emails rolling in? Have a webshop? Make sure you are capturing emails and putting them into whatever email management system you are using.



{ET says:} While we’re at it. Make sure you send regular, but not too frequent emails to your customers. Don’t be a spammer either, you must collect those emails, don’t go stealing them off blogs or other sites. And don’t be offended when people want to opt out of your list- it’s not personal.

2. Write and say hi! My best friend and Etsy store owner, Em makes amazing postcards of her beautiful vintage wares with Moo, and then hand writes notes to customers thanking them for their purchases and reminding them she has lots of great stock. And her customers LOVE them! Not only are the postcards pretty, but they are so very personal in a digital age. Take the time to do something from the heart and you’ll be thrilled with the results.

{ET says:} We love OvernightPrints.com for cheap, reliable printing of postcards, stickers and other lovely promotional material!



3. Make your emails the best they can possibly be. Use marketing management like Constant Contact or other alternatives to make sharp, professional looking emails. Image really is everything and these low cost services are worth their weight in gold.

Try adding some of these sections to make your emails really sign: Staff favorites, New Product, Events, Featured Artists, What’s Hot (even if that just means sharing what music you’re playing, what new shops you love in your area, etc), or any other Givaways you might be having.

{ET says:} Click here for a fantastic list of alternatives to the ever popular Constant Contact!

4. Don’t forget about the ever popular social media sites. Free networking is never a bad thing. Just make sure your pages on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and the sort are clean and easy to use, properly branded, and add value to your business. Make sure all your pertinent info is there: phone, address, website, and anything else that your customer needs to get in touch with you. After all, that’s the point!