Black Friday/ Cyber Monday has fast become an invaluable sales tool for businesses. But the way in which these retail events are used to build businesses in both the long and short term is a strategic play. Steep discounts and reduced pricing are amazing for delivering quick profits, but these often fail to build relationships with customers who are more interested in the quick deal, than the long term relationship. So how do you convert one-time bargain hunters into loyal long-term customers?
Encourage repeat business
With every Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale, consider offering a voucher or incentive to return and buy something the following month. This could be offered to customers who spend over a certain amount. This has the dual effect of not only increasing basket size over the actual Black Friday period but also encouraging return business from the same customer in the immediate future.
Make it worth their while
New customers love an incentive to buy and loyalty programs can really achieve this. Implement these at the check-out by mentioning your loyalty program and how they will receive a reward after a certain purchase value. Loyalty programs can also take the form of a first-time buyer’s ‘thank you card’ with a percentage off their next purchase. Another way to show your appreciation for new business is to specifically ask this customer’s opinion on your product or service. This will communicate to the customer that they are valued because you not only care about what they think, but you also want to cater to these needs in the future.
Put your values front and centre
For the most part, Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers are purely motivated by the deal and loyalty is low. But generally speaking, elsewhere in the year, customers are increasingly making buying decisions based on brand identity and messaging. This makes an impact on how they spend during the rest of the year. So continue to display your brand messaging and keep it snappy and memorable. This will help your customer to choose you for both your brand identity and your great deals and persuade them to .
Back up your campaign on social media
It’s no secret that social media is an important way to build brand loyalty. Which is why any strategy (loyalty program or discount structure) needs to be integrated into your social media strategy. You can also incentivize customers to follow you on social media. While a social media following is usually more passive than retail customers because while they may be following you, they may never have actually shopped with you before. The point though is to get these passive followers signed up onto your website by continuously punting your loyalty programs which will in turn convert the leads on social media into long term paying customers.
Keep things personal
The moment someone makes a sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, begin to personalise all future interactions. Even though they make not have created an account, you will have their email and name from the initial purchase. So use this to get on a first name basis with this new customer. Address correspondence by their first name, write in a friendly conversational tone and when appropriate send correspondence directly from the CEO so they feel connected, important and familiar. Tell them a bit about your brand and why this sale is important to you. Help them connect with the brand and make it a pleasant and memorable experience.
Make it a pleasurable experience
For the most part, Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a frenzy of sales which can feel quite stressful and get the adrenalin pumping. But what if you could offer your customers a different kind of Black Friday experience - one that is relaxed, engaging and positive. By doing this you will succeed in separating yourself from the crowd of competitors who are in it for the quick-firing Rands and Cents.
Encourage referrals
Referrals build trust in your brand. It helps spread the message that the experience with you was a good one so that they can then let friends and family know about it. If other’s trust you, your brand will feel like it’s in safe hands for the next customer. In fact, 92% of people rely on recommendation referrals – especially over sale time when decisions are fast and instinctive.
The bottom line
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are notoriously busy days for retailers and customers alike. But sales alone do not build a business. Rather these sales periods need to be viewed as a unique opportunity when people are shopping their loyalty around. If you can bag that you then have repeat business and customer loyalty which is way more valuable that once off sales. This comes down to a shift in mind set and implementing some of these clever strategies into your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and marketing activities .
