Your Online Business's Second Most Valuable Asset

In our last article we pointed out that you are your own business's number one asset. Your own uniqueness, ideas, talents, and energies, or what separate your business from the pack. After you, the number two asset in any newer business is their customers. Especially if you are relying on the return customer, and if you plan to get into online sales, your products need to be something that has to be purchased again and again. High end products that are only purchased a couple of times in a lifetime are best saved for brick and mortar stores. If you do sell high end products you better carry a wealth of accessories, so you can get that return dollar.

Any first time customer is your most expensive sale. Chances are they had to follow paid advertising to get to your site. Then you had to convince them to purchase, either with coupons, or perhaps additional contact via phone, emails, etc. First time customers need lots of assurance and coddling, they have concerns about every aspect of their purchase.

Return sales are much easier to pull off. Customers already trust your site, like your products, and your service. If you have done things right they are proud to have discovered you, you are their little secret. They are your return on your entire investment, from advertising, to hosting price, to inventory costs; they are the reward for a job well done. If you are lucky they will tell their friends, in fact it is a necessity.

Word of mouth advertising is free. It is readily available provided you exceed customer's expectations. There are several ways to do this, and it is where your number one asset comes in to play. Here are some easy ways to make your first time customer a loyal customer.

1. Hand write a thank you on the invoice and make sure your invoice has your logo, phone number, email, and physical address.

2. Include a business card.

3. Have a toll free number, even if you are working full time elsewhere and only have it available in the evening, just having it on your website promotes trust.

4. Have an opt in newsletter, and include a type written newsletter with every package, with instructions on how to receive it in the e-mail.

5. Responds to e-mails promptly, try to remember repeat e-mailers and customers.

6. Have photo contests if practical with people using your products. For example if you sell crafting supplies have a photo of the month with your customers' creations, and give the winner something free.

7. Have a rewards program, many online stores offer this in their store builder.

8. Discounts for bulk orders, gets people together to make one large purchase, your reward is now more people have shopped from you.

9. Send a thank you email when shipping, asking them to tell others about your product and service.

10. Blog.

11. Write how to articles and send them all over the web, and place them on your website.

12. Offer free advice; keep lots of resource material in your home or office.

Always work from the aspect that it is not the current order that is valuable as much as the future ones. The more repeat customers you have the less you need to spend on advertising, which means more money in your pocket. It is infinitely cheaper to offer a reward program for frequent buyers than spending money to get a new one. Not that your advertising should be eliminated, however you will find you receive more new customers from your current one, and those customers cost you nothing more than a job well done.