Are You Upsetting Loyal Customers When Attracting New Customers?

Posted by m4bmarketing under Marketing
From http://www.m4bmarketing.com 5524 days ago
Made Hot by: JohnH on October 8, 2009 11:02 pm

Are you a loyal customer but find the latest deal or offer is never for you, only new customers? Although I have no statistics on this, but visiting many websites it seems that small businesses are doing this more than they used to.

Whilst it is important to gain new customers, a little time is needed to think about your loyal customers and how they feel about losing out on such offers. Before you put the latest offer out to new customers you may want to consider the following:

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Comments

Written by SteveRogersCFA
5522 days ago

Anyone who has ever rented property can attest to this. If you rent an apartment, the longer you stay the more the rent increases, but new customers lock in lower rates for a year or more when they sign up.

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Written by JimmiAmbrose
5522 days ago

I agree with both of your points. I think rewarding loyalty is the way every business grows from its customer base to its employees morale and productivity. But undercutting the value of your product TOO much may leave you little in terms of capital later on in order to continue to grow. It certainly is a real catch-22.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5522 days ago

All good points.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5523 days ago

Hi Susan,

Seems I'm making a lot of comments on these lately, but I do agree you need to think about your long term customers. Is it OK to lock loyal customers in at a lower cost when you raise your prices? What are your thoughts on this? Is this a good way to reward loyalty? This isn't, of course, something you want to advertise you are doing.

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Written by m4bmarketing
5523 days ago

Hi Shawn,

Comments are great. Re the lower prices it depends on the product or service. It could be worth looking at if pricing is an issue however you need to consider whether your costs are likely to rise (this would then mean your margin goes down if prices are not increased), whether you can get a longer contract or terms etc.

I always prefer to see what they actually would value, what is important to them and if possible not play on price as a competitor can easily match you. Also if you hold the price with these customers for one time they will probably expect it each time which could be a problem.

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