No doubt about it, there are no sales without customers. But how do you get people to buy from your business? This is why you should incentivize your customers to buy!
We all know that customers are essential to business success as they are an integral part of every successful business. But how do you keep customers coming back to buy from you, and not your competitors?
Yes, offering quality products that satisfy your customer’s needs or want is the best strategy but the fact is that customers buy for other reasons than just a quality product.
Simply put, your customers are expecting more than just the “awesome” products and services.
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How to incentivise customers to buy
Having acknowledged the importance of customers to your business, it is imperative that you improve your customer service for better performance.
You just have to always find means to make your customers happy. Understandably, at times, it’s difficult to keep customers coming back to buy from the business.
This is why you need to devise ways through which your business can build brand loyalty and exceed customer expectations for repeat business.
So how do you go about it? Below are 5 effective ways the business can incentivize customers to buy:
#1]. Offer sales promotion
Do you know that offering sales promotion is one of the best ways to make customers buy from your business? This is why this should be one of the most important components of your business’s overall marketing strategy, along with advertising and public relations.
Sales promotion is the most common incentive for customers and can come in many different forms including discounts on prices, freebies, bundle packages, and many more.
Offer exclusive deals such as buy one, get one free. You can also introduce discounts for first-time users. This has a double advantage in that to ensure people can only be a ‘first-time buyer’ once, you need to take contact details – thus building on your store of customer data.
Sales promotion is one of the easiest and fastest ways to help increase your sales, although make sure your ultimate goals are aligned with your promotion.
#2]. Offer loyalty or reward programs
We all love to be rewarded when we do something good. Who doesn’t? As a business owner, it’s important to always make your customers feel good about doing business with you by rewarding them for their loyalty.
Rewarding your customers is also the best way your business can keep customers happy for word-of-mouth marketing and great brand reputation. Reward your customers and they’ll reward you with repeat business.
Customer loyalty programs such as gift vouchers and cards or downloadable coupons can be essential for picking up new customers, retaining old ones, and most importantly, finding out what your customers really want from you.
Reward programs such as gift vouchers and cards are a great incentive for promotions, customer and staff retention, and the perfect way to say “thank you” to customers and employees. This is one of the most effective ways businesses can incentivize customers to buy.
#3]. Offer free shipping
If you have an eCommerce website or you take orders from customers over the phone, it’s good to offer free shipping. Offering free shipping on some items is a great way your business can incentivize customers to buy.
SEE ALSO: Top 5 Ways Your Business Can Easily Improve Customer Experience
We all know that most online shoppers don’t like to pay to ship their goods; they love to receive the benefit of free shipping. Your business will definitely benefit from offering free shipping on your products to cater to this type of shoppers.
#4]. Run giveaway contests
Another effective way businesses can incentivize customers to buy is by running Giveaway Contests in trade or relevant magazines and websites. This is particularly a good way of getting the brand name out there, reaching a specific demographic, and showcasing your product.
A highly favourable description and a nice big picture of a product never did anyone any harm – in fact, you are essentially getting an advert for free.
Another thing is that you can get your customer to automatically sign up for any of your in-store competitions depending on how much they spend in your store.
By categorizing your competitions, you will be able to ensure that participants entered the right category based on the money spent.
#5]. Offer custom orders or back orders
If you have the ability, accept custom requests from your customers. Maybe it’s a specific colour or material that you are not offering online, so allowing custom orders may create some challenges, but it will also result in sales.
Allowing custom requests can actually provide you with a great feedback source to develop new products…it’s a great way to collaborate with your customers for new product ideas.
#6]. Sponsor or donate to charity
Donating a portion of your sales to a charity of your choice will result in more sales and smiles. It’s a win-win-win for you, your customer and the charity selected!
Customers want to know that they are getting value for their money and being assured that some of their money go towards helping someone else is a huge incentive to purchase, plus it’s just a great thing to do to help a community in need.
#7]. Take advantage of seasonal opportunities
The holidays always offer a great opportunity for a boost in sales, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until December to get started.
There are holidays each month of the year and if you can find ways to offer fun seasonal products or take advantage to promote a certain holiday and align your products with the season you will find opportunities throughout the year to increase your sales and incentivize your customers to purchase!
So, if you ever wonder why your products just aren’t selling, try to incentivise your customers to make a purchase. You will be surprised at how many more sales you will make.
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