Thursday, June 23, 2011

Gift Certificates to Entice Customers Back

One clothing store that I like to frequent is Express. They do a yearly or biyearly sale where once I spend $XX I get Express Dollars which I can spend a week or two later. This special is timed so that they have a new batch of clothing available at full price when I come back to spend my Express Bucks; I love coming back because I know that because of my purchase a week or so earlier, I now have $10/$20/$50 that I can spend at Express.  They've created a small sense of urgency by putting a time constraint on the Express Bucks; if I don't spend them I lose them. This same idea can be carried out in your ShopSite store.

Your best customers are your existing customers; you want to treat them well.  After a customer places an order, send them a gift certificate (ShopSite Pro) for the shipping total that they paid on their last order, or for a percentage of their last order. This nice little surprise will give them a good feeling about your website and may entice them to come back to your store for another purchase. You don't want these gift certificates to be indefinite, so you will want to make sure that you specify an expiration date on each one.  Give the customer enough time to receive their current order, but not too much time that they forget that they have the gift certificate.  With your gift certificate email you may want to also advertise some hot products, or upcoming products so the customer is more excited about shopping with you.

Now you may think, "how is this different than a coupon?" With a coupon, customers HAVE to spend money to save money.  Yes, it is tempting for potential sales, but the gift certificate method gives customers credit in your store without spending any additional money. They've already placed an order with you, so they have already spent some money, but now they have this credit that is just sitting their for them to use. Make your customers feel like they are the reason you are in business!

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