Hustle & Heart: Turning Your Holiday Buyers into Lifelong Customers

Cheers to bringing in all the new customers this holiday season! From added website traffic and social media engagement to increased sales, let’s make sure all of this amazing customer interaction during the holidays leads to long term success!

With so many small business owners celebrating the holiday surge only for business to return back to usual shortly after, I want to help you build a game plan to keep those holiday customers coming back for more all year long!

Here are a few simple ways to turn your holiday buyers into lifelong customers.

Make The Transaction Feel Personal

Remember that every single transaction that comes in during the holidays occurs with a human being on the other end. Your goal should be to remind them that they are more than just a transaction. Lead with gratitude in any follow up communications reminding them how thankful you are for their business. Include a personalized message to your customer or record a short video thanking them for their purchase and even sharing with them a little bit about your business. Sure, they purchased from you already but that doesn’t mean your core brand message or mission connected during all the hustle and bustle of the season.  It doesn’t have to be anything high production quality either – a simple Instagram DM or email works just fine. These personal gestures create closer connections and added trust when it comes to returning as a customer or referring others your way.

Implement a Customer Loyalty Program

Forget whatever you’ve heard about creating a customer loyalty program in the past and know that they don’t have to all be the same cookie cutter program! Your customers and your business are unique, so your loyalty program can be, too! The point of a loyalty program is to entice customers by rewarding them for returning to purchase again in the future. This is particularly a great marketing asset if you’re in a saturated market wanting to stand out!  Embrace your unique brand personality, values and goals to create whatever feels right! You can send inexpensive gifts to your VIP customers, create a point system that tracks for special promotions and discounts, or recognize loyalty members with special invites for first dibs on things or shoutouts on social media.

Requesting Timely Customer Reviews

Despite some of the strongest marketing tactics, social media strategies and PR efforts available, business owners often find that good old fashioned reviews are still one of the main drivers behind customer loyalty. Sounds easier said than done? Take time to invite them to leave a review in a simple, straightforward way including exactly where to leave it and perhaps, give them some guidance on what to include. Providing a few quick questions for them to answer can take the “what do I say” worry off of them and help them write it faster. Create a simple low cost incentive for customers to complete their review.  Depending on what you sell, this could be a freebie, a 15% discount or an extra 30 minute session with you. Make sure it has genuine value to your customer to show you appreciate them.

Invite Them Back in the New Year

Be creative about inviting customers back come January! Think about how your business can be part of their lives now at the start of the year. Does your brand fit into a popular new year’s resolution you can create content around or offer a new promotion around?  Have leftover seasonal products you can bundle and promote to keep the sales momentum going? Can you retarget an audience from your holiday digital campaign from your website or email marketing? This is the perfect time to circle back with those customers who may have shown interest in your holiday sales but never made it official with a purchase or booking. So often businesses worry about standing out during the holidays that we forget the real hurdle is maintaining or rekindling the relationship once the holidays have passed.

Hustle & Heart Challenge

This month challenge yourself to get creative and make a list of three things you’re going to initiate with your holiday customers to help strengthen the relationship and keep them coming back for more into the new year. Prioritize each and set action steps towards them on the calendar now.

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