3 Methods for Design Firms to Increase Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is a vital for any business, but especially for a small web design companies or freelancers. You do not have the marketing resources of larger organizations so it’s important to work hard at keeping the clients you do have. Here’s three tips for keeping your clients coming back:
1. Regular Communication
Regular communication with your clients does not just mean talking to them about their particular project. Obviously you do want to be accessible as you work with your clients. But you should also remain in contact with them long after you are finished working on any specific task. Regular newsletters, seasonal cards, appreciation gifts, and simple follow up phone calls are all great ways to remind your customers about your company. The idea is to keep your company in the front of their mind on an on-going basis.
2. Offer Referral Incentives
Your existing customers are the best resource for finding new customers-and rewarding them for those referrals is a great way to make sure they stay loyal to you. Be sure you take the time to regularly remind them about your incentive program, and be sure to follow through in a timely manner. Referral incentives can come in many forms including cash, concert tickets, discounted services, and gift certificates.
3. Under Promise and Over Deliver
But perhaps the most important way to ensure your customers remain loyal is to under-promise and over-deliver. That means giving your clients a reasonable expectation that you are certain you can meet and then finding ways to deliver above and beyond your promise. Your customers will be delighted when you are finished with their website a whole week before the deadline; or when you are able to add the additional features without having to charge extra the extra time you originally estimated.
These three suggestions are easy, inexpensive and tried and true. Remember, that as a business owner, it costs more to win new customers from a marketing standpoint than it ever does to maintain relationships with existing ones. You may want to re-evaluate how you have your marketing budget structured in order to take better care of your past and present clients. Finally, the key to any of this is to make sure you keep a comprehensive, updated, and well maintained database of your clients and prospective clients (more on that in a future post).
Michael Savage:
I want a good way to offer referral incentives because I even offered cash and no return.
Calvin:
Good post. I do agree that regular communication between the executive and customer is really needed so that customer is always aware of the work which is being done for him and can trus our company.
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