Hi friends – we were just talking about the great performance figures that our clients’ online stores are experiencing right now and had some ideas about good practices you might want to be engaging in during this important holiday season.
If at all possible – this is the time when it helps to go the extra mile with customer service – looking at the data in analytics – or even better if you useWoocommerce and you install Metrilo – it’s obvious that recurring revenue from returning customers is your best place to invest time and attention – particularly if it means that you retain a NEW customer for a second order – once that happens we have them pretty well hooked for the long run.
1: To that end – pay close attention to the special instructions they are including regarding gifts and shipping issues, gift notes and any special requests. If you have ANY questions for a customer pick up the phone and give them a personal call – it will make a big difference.
2: If you notice a particularly valuable new order or an order from a returning customer, try to make time to write that customer a quick, hand-written note to include with the order – or keep a running list of the orders and schedule a time immediately after the holidays to send them a nice note or card. If you handle a luxury, high-end product the more you can show them that luxury touch and response the more likely you will get repeat business and referrals.
3: If you are logged into Metrilo – go to the “sales intelligence” menu item and see what it tells you – if there is a customer who abandoned their cart – drop them an email through the Metrilo system and see if you can glean some idea of what happened – was it shipping costs? Something that went wrong on checkout? Or were they just kicking tires? Reaching out to these customers – if their email is visible – will reap dividends fairly quickly.
4: It might be good to put together an email/mailchimp campaign in the next week or two that really lets your customers know that they can use your system to send gifts directly – that you will include their gift note and ship directly to that recipient (and leave out the invoice!) – a screen shot of the checkout page showing where they will enter their info would be a good thing to include.
5: Gift cards! We use Woocommerce Smart Coupons to do this. Highlight that customers can purchase and email a gift card directly to their friends and family through the system – letting them off the hook at the last minute if they were late to the game.
Just some thoughts! Be well. Kevin
Photo of yummy chocolates YOU can buy online NOW and give as a gift from ourStudio Two client Chocolate Springs – fine, hand-crafted, luxury chocolates from the Cultural Berkshires of Western MA.