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You’ve brought in new customers with a great campaign – now what?
You know the story – you distributed fliers around town or published ads in a weekly newspaper or newsletter or posted and shared posts and run campaigns on social media and people listened! They came in the door or contacted you and hired you because your introductory price was right - maybe free or half price or 1+1. Now what? How do you convert these customers into full-paying customers?
Let’s start off by stating that there are some people will never be converted – they go from one business to another exploiting any available introductory service offer that comes their way. But on the whole, many first-time customers can be converted into full-paying customers.
Here are 7 conversion methods that have been proven successful in a variety of businesses:
1. Freemium packages are a great way to bring in new customers This is both a good way to bring in first-time customers and to convert them. How does it work? Freemium offers customers the ability to sign up and get a limited package of services for free, usually forever, or pay a premium for one or more levels of added services or removal of their branded banners and the like.
The free package must have just enough services to provide the customer with a good understanding of what you offer and a positive user experience, but not too many services that may either discourage or not incentivize the customer to buy the upgraded service package.
While it can be tricky to get customers to pay once they’ve started using your services for free and a move to payment may cause some customers to cancel your services all together - there is about a 30% conversion rate in this kind of service. To have this work for your business you need to have a very high volume of premium business to offset the free package accounts. Good examples of freemium packages are Wix and Canva.
2. Free signups that require a credit card Interestingly introductory services that require a credit card signup tend have a 10% to even 50% better conversion rate than signups that do not require a credit card, probably because once the new customer is 'in' – she/he will tend to allow the service to continue – perhaps out of laziness. Although there are no figures to calculate how many potentials never sign up in the first place because of the credit card requirement.
3. Get personal Don't let the trail go cold once customers have taken advantage of your offer. Reach out and touch your customers to foster a sense of connection: send out birthday / anniversary (get the information on their initial signup forms) / holiday greetings; send Enewsletters or other emarketing campaigns.
Communicating on a personal level is important not only for conversion of new customers to full-paying customers, but for all customer retention. You need to keep your business name at the forefront of your customers' attention, otherwise the next time they will need your kind of services they may have forgotten about you and gone on to the next shiny new service provider down the block.
4. Give to get Not everything should have a price tag: provide worthwhile, timely information and tips on a regular basis to build a sense of trust and foster a sense of dependence on your business expertise.
5. Make sure new customers know your full product/service package Sometimes an introductory offer may include a limited package or a very limited number of services. New customers may not be aware your full range of services or even think of asking about them and you could lose an opportunity for conversion because of something as simple as a lack of curiosity. Send all first-time introductory offer customers a full list of your services or a link to your full list as soon as they sign up. Don’t lose this opportunity for future/further sales. Photo by Delbeautybox from Pexels
6. Follow up It is important to keep tabs on the usage rate for downloaded programs/apps. A program/app that is used three or more times will encourage a much higher conversion rate than a program/app used only once or twice. The lesson is obvious: communicate directly and personally with new customers as soon as they download to ensure they use your program/app - soon and often - to improve your chances of customer conversion.
The same is true for any offer - contact the new customer within 24 hours of their sign up and thank them for choosing your company and perhaps offer to schedule the initial appointment for them. Once they have taken advantage of your service, contact them again and ask for their feed back. Show them the attention all new customers deserve.
7. Never give up! At the beginning of this blog I talked about customers that will never be converted - however if you provide excellent customer service, they may recommend you to their friends who could in turn – convert into the full-paying customers you need.
Don’t miss the opportunity to convert introductory customers into full-paying customers: provide outstanding services, excellent customer service, make them feel they are important to your business, provide value-added services in the form of informational blogs. Make your first-time customers want to be your paying customers.
Do you want to open yourself to a more successful business? Are you lost in the social media jungle? Let me help you re-energize your business and rediscover your passion in your profession. We’ll work together to improve your marketing strategy and online exposure and find the perfect target markets for your business. Contact me today to schedule a free introductory meeting.
