The Importance of Fonts in Web Design – Do You Have The Right One?

Long before the age of technology, fonts have been evolving. We’ve come a long way since scriptwriting, mainly because our works are no longer in scrolls but anywhere from screens to print ads.

Fonts have changed with our times and the means of which content was presented to us, yet that doesn’t mean all fonts have gone outdated. Some of them outlasted the test of time and are still used today!

Finding that perfect font can often feel like locating a needle in a haystack, however, it’s important to remember that before we dive into that haystack, we need to understand a few of the basics of font pairing.

A bit of history about fonts

Going back to the beginning, it all started with the serif font. The first category of serif fonts were old-style serifs, dating back all the way to the Romans around the 15th to mid 18th century. These serifs had little variation between thick and thin strokes. They also tended to have a stress on the left axis, as well as have serifs that are wedge-shaped.

During the mid 18th century, transitional serifs were introduced. This style shows the change between the old style and neoclassical designs. This style had vertical stress, with thinner character strokes. The weights in these fonts showed much more contrast than older fonts.

Later in the 18th century, neoclassical serifs were introduced. The beginning of fonts considerably differing in style – the difference between weights of thick and thin was extremely abrupt.

It was in the 19th century that sans serif fonts were created and became popular. These fonts, of course, lacked the serif but also had more square curves to their characters. Later the square sans serifs, geometric sans serifs and then the humanistic sans serif was created. The humanistic sans serif was said to be the most readable of the sans serifs thus far and had a lot of calligraphic influence.

Next, script fonts were designed, using formal scripts they were inspired by the writings of the 17th and 18th century. Then morphed into calligraphic scripts that were inspired by the characters found in religious text, but with a modern style. This then ventured to casual scripts which give the allusion of modern-day handwriting.

Lastly, there was the creation of decorative fonts, which vary widely in type and are the largest group.

Evolved over time

It’s no secret that these fonts considerably evolved over the centuries. After all, we aren’t using the same script fonts found back in the day. But, exactly how have they changed?

Mainly, the variety of fonts in every aspect has increased during this time.

If you look at most modern-day writing, it varies between sans serif and serif, but mainly on the web the sans serif fonts display nicely. Although the history of fonts began with the serif, we tend to look at serif fonts as traditional and old school, yet they still appear in modern-day settings.

Similarly, our options of font weights greatly increased. Now when you pick a font, you have many choices as to what weight you’d like that font to display. These in itself, significantly change the appearance of a font.

Lastly and probably most importantly, we now have many variations of fonts. Today there are over hundreds of thousands of fonts, making the jumps between font growths much smaller. Whether it’s just changing a font slightly to be a bit narrower and longer or a bit more square, there are a lot of fonts that share similar characteristics.

Choices that have stuck

Technology has influenced all design and created a new modern era. In fonts, this looks like clean lines with a lot of in-between character lines. It is making the content look clean and crisp, a considerable contrast from the original font styles. That doesn’t mean that traditional fonts aren’t still in business. There’s a list of fonts that have stuck throughout generations, and we still use today!

An extremely popular font, with its straightforward to read style has stood the test of time and is still used widely today. It’s frequently used in books, showcasing its traditional yet stylish flair on a font, and also works well on website design, because of it’s elegant feel. This font is also part of the old-style serif category.

Also part of the old-style serif font category is EB Garamond. This font has a few unique qualities that set it apart from other traditional styled fonts. It has a longer ‘F’ midbar, a ‘W’ with crossed misstrokes, as well as a few distinct characters, especially with its italicized letters.

This font would be considered a disdone or modern font, having a lot of strength in the characters. It has a strong focus on vertical strokes, as well as a big contrast between thin and thick strokes. Abril Fatface is much easier to read when displayed in big writing with lots of spacing in between. It’s the perfect font if you want to stand out from the crowd.

One of the first san serif fonts to be widely used, this is considered a grotesque sans serif. It has a lower ‘x’ height and also gives whichever design it’s used in a much more distinctive style.

These fonts can be downloaded for free from Google Fonts.

Pairing traditional fonts

With the legends of fonts, as I like to call these, it may seem daunting to try and pair them with other fonts. After all, they’re vintage!

Don’t worry, just like any other fonts the same rules still apply. Make sure there’s a font that takes the spotlight and one that takes a back seat.

Pairing fonts is about creating balance. If there are two overpowering fonts, then they will always compete, making it hard for the reader to read the actual content.

If you’re still having trouble trying to put together another font with one of these legends, use a font combination tool like this one created by Bold Web Design.

Wrapping up

Now that you know the history of some of the most popular fonts, it’s time to hit a reality check. The age of a font does not automatically equate its style. Just because a font was created in the 18th century does not mean it can’t pull off a modern look today.

Fonts are all about pairing with other fonts, designs, colors, and pictures. It’s the way you use the font that truly brings out its style, rather than the period it was first designed.

Guest author: Deborah Morgan

The post The Importance of Fonts in Web Design – Do You Have The Right One? appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/the-importance-of-fonts-in-web-design/

How to Master The Art of Customer Loyalty Management

Brands and businesses across the Globe look to channelize all their marketing, promotional, and operational endeavors to attain one long-term vision…

To generate an influx of revenue that is well and truly more than the year gone by.

Right at the epicenter of this vision lays the trump-card that more often than not helps brands acquire the revenue they are after. They are popularly known as the customers, and it’s imperative that they are treated well.

Now it’s one thing having existing customers, but something else to keep them around for the longest time to come. And then there is the whole proposition of acquiring new ones altogether. While it’s comparatively more expensive for a brand to achieve the latter, it is just as important.

It’s a hi-tech and competitive world today. Innovation is more than a buzzword and innovators are aplenty. Needless to say, customers have an open buffet of options (brands) to choose from, making them the proverbial boss.

No matter how much attachment one has to a brand, it doesn’t take much to shift base these days. If anything, brands need to work in overdrive to ensure that their existing customers stay loyal to them for as long as possible, and the new ones turn loyal in a jiffy. Brands must master the art of customer loyalty management.

What is customer loyalty and how do you go about building it?

“A customer can be termed as loyal when one makes a voluntary choice of buying from or being associated with a particular brand over a period of time, resulting from the cohesive experience (physical and emotional) that they have had in the past with the brand.”

It has to be kept in mind that a good product alone is not enough to keep a customer loyal for long as competition is high. Other integral aspects such as customer service and customer experience play a vital role as well.

Establishing customer loyalty is not the easiest thing to do in today’s day and age. It would be inappropriate to call a customer loyal just on the basis of a couple of purchases. Studies show that as many as 37% of people consider themselves to be loyal to a brand only after they have shopped from it more than five times.

Image Source

Now that we know what it is, the question is how do you go about establishing customer loyalty? Let’s first look at the primary essentials that need to be followed to build customer loyalty.

#1. Omnichannel Customer Service

Long before and also long after the purchasing process, if there is one thing that customers expect from their brands, it is customer service. In fact, a lot of the emotional attachment that customers associate with brands is because of the service that they receive. However, customer service today is more than just greeting customers in-store with a “Hello, how can I help you?” message. The advent of eCommerce has divided the shopping fraternity into two different segments; online and offline. Amidst all the speculation about which medium to focus on, the wiser and in many ways the obvious answer would be both.

Today, time-crunched customers who buy offline write product reviews online. Not just reviews, even when it comes to queries, the initial tendency is to find a platform online as it is not just convenient but also time-efficient. Needless to say, they expect a proper customer service response online.

That does not mean that all of them are time-crunched. They are perfectly capable of walking back to the stores with their queries and feedback. The point is, brands should have an active, omnichannel presence across mediums with a fully functional customer service support. This will lead to more customer interactions, and thus brands will have more opportunities to turn their valued customers into life-long loyalists.

#2. Credible customer interactions

It’s not just about having a customer service establishment across mediums. It has to be highly active and responses to customer queries and issues need to be swift. Customers don’t appreciate brands not addressing their problems in time. They consider it to be poor customer service and chances are that they might move on to another brand. Findings suggest, as many as 60% of customers stop doing business with a brand after just one poor customer service.

One way of ensuring loyalty among customers is through credible customer interactions. Customers expect a certain amount of exclusivity, and a personalized approach from brands apart from a timely response. Brands should oblige in kind with positive responses, praise, and at times with thank you messages. This makes the customer feel valued. But at the outset, the most important thing is to respond quickly. Whether it’s through 24×7 human customer service teams, artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, or numerous customer relationship managers, timely, personalized and credible customer interactions go a long way in acquiring customer loyalty.

#3. Going the extra mile to deliver value

The truth is that customers are never satisfied and always want more. That’s because competitive brands are always in a rat race, looking to outperform each other. In order to keep the edge, brands should go the extra mile to deliver value.

Instead of waiting for their customers to raise a query or complaint, they can themselves call their customers up to inquire about the performance of the product purchased. This will make the customers feel that the brand cares for them. Besides, brands can also go online and directly speak to customers, thank the ones who have given positive feedback on social forums, clarify other query related conversation between two individuals, etc.

Brands shouldn’t always wait for the customers to come asking for help. Sometimes, they should take the onus on themselves to go ahead and make a difference. Customer loyalty is the result of a lot of strategic endeavors collectively made to keep the customer on board for the longest time possible. Sometimes, when these endeavors don’t work, going the extra mile does the trick.

#4. Finally, enrolling customers into loyalty programs

For all the efforts made, it has to be kept in mind that acquiring customer loyalty is the easy part. Once the customer becomes loyal, the tough part is to keep the customer loyal for as long as possible. This is where establishing an emotional connection pays dividends. Customers need to be rewarded for their loyalty. Customer loyalty programs can be devised in a variety of ways to help achieve the same.

Image Source

Customer loyalty programs are not necessarily just for existing customers. A new customer on-board can also be enrolled in a program that leaves them with no choice but to be associated with the brand for an extended period of time. Studies indicate that as many as 52% of loyal customers show a tendency to join a loyalty program if offered to them. The crux, however, lies in devising a loyalty program that is suitable for the brand. Not all loyalty programs are universally suited for all brands. The next section is going to look at this point further.

Different kinds of customer loyalty programs

#1. Reward points system

Although common, a rewards point system is still one of the most popular loyalty programs going around.

The way it works is simple – every time a customer makes a purchase, reward points get accumulated based on the amount of the purchase made. Once the collected points reach a substantial amount, the customer can redeem it in the form of bill discounts, or even physical rewards.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider Program is a perfect example of how to do the reward points loyalty program right. During a purchase, the customer just needs to swipe their beauty insider card and points get added to it. Every dollar spent is equivalent to 1 point earned. Customers can then redeem the points in exchange for cosmetic items.

The downside of this is that customers are not always aware of the number of total points that they have earned. Starbucks went one better than Sephora and devised a mechanism where customers could easily see the points they have earned. They launched the ‘My Starbucks Reward’ program where customers would have to pay from the Starbucks app and the loyalty points earned would be displayed in-app. The program became an instant hit and stands as a good example of how to go about devising a rewards program.

Note: The rewards point system does not guarantee success for all kinds of brands. It is tailor-made for customers looking to seek short term loyalty rewards from frequent purchases – like cosmetics or fabrics.

#2. The tiered rewards system

It’s very important for brands to define to their customers exactly the kind of loyalty rewards they should expect. Often, there is a huge gap between what customers imagine and what they are actually eligible to receive. The tiered rewards system is the perfect remedy to settle this kind of a disparity.

Customers must understand that there has to be a difference in loyalty returns between a two-time buyer and a nine-time buyer. The accumulated points for a nine-time buyer will be a lot more than the two-time buyer anyway. Thus, placing the two sets of customers in different tiers will help customers rationalize their expectations. The tiered rewards system can be implemented by a brand that encourages short-term, medium price-point purchases, but is ideally fit for brands that trigger expensive, long-term, high price-point purchases.

A case in point here is Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club program that places members into three different tiers – Club Red, Club Silver, and Club Gold. Initially, customers are inducted into Club Red and based on their loyalty levels, they move up the ladder. Customers obviously are made aware of the benefits that are in store for them at each level, which acts as an incentive for them to keep flying with Virgin Atlantic.

Note: The tiered rewards system can be implemented by brands of all kinds and stature. However, it is ideal for brands that trigger expensive, long term, high price-point purchases.

#3. Pay and become a VIP

This is another type of loyalty program that enjoys a mixed bag of reactions from different brands. In this program, customers generally need to pay a certain amount to enjoy certain benefits in the future. This might be a good tactic to a new customer, where the real quest lies in turning him/her into a loyalist by offering a good, paid benefits program. But when it comes to already existing, and loyal customers, they might question the reasoning behind paying a fee to enjoy benefits. After all, they are loyal to the brand. The truth is, how customers (both new and existing) feel about paying a fee depends on what they are getting back in return.

Amazon is a pioneer when it comes to generating profit from this kind of a loyalty model. With its’ Amazon Prime membership program, it well and truly augmented the shopping fortunes of customers. Members of the Prime program are eligible for same-day/next day delivery at no extra charge, enjoy the liberty of no minimum cart value option and highly curtailed shipping charges. This also put a lid on their online cart abandonment rates as people with the membership found all the reasons to exercise their rights while shopping.

Note: This type of program is only recommended for well-established giants like Amazon who have the capacity to provide unprecedented value in exchange for the membership fee.

#4. Non-monetary, public interest programs

All brands across the globe today realize the impact that a good corporate social responsibility slate has on customers and the brand image at large. On similar grounds, a unique way of devising loyalty programs is to churn out benefits to society for a change instead of customer purchasing. This is a great way of building trust and an emotional connection with your customer base. This is also a great way to bring new customers on board. After all, who doesn’t want the greater good of society?

In this case, the loyalty program devised by TOMS shoes is definitely worth a mention. The whole messaging of the program is about ‘improving lives’ which a lot of customers willingly sign up for. TOMS dedicates one pair of shoes to a person in need for every pair that is purchased by a customer. With time they started to dedicate a fair margin of their profits to the Wildlife Conversation Society for every elephant dotted shoe purchased. They provide a classic case to believe that not all loyalty programs have to be about the customer.

Note: Again, this is the kind of program that not all brands can afford to pull off owing to the donation of a lot of items. It’s suitable for brands like TOMS who enjoy large scale profit and a huge customer base.

#5. ‘No program’ is sometimes a good program

As tempting as a loyalty program might seem, customers, today are getting smarter, wiser, and increasingly critical of how brands go about their advertising endeavors. Over the years, they have learned to see the bigger picture of what brands are trying to achieve through these loyalty programs – an extensive customer base, and larger profits. Why not shelf the idea of a program altogether? Instead, focus more on delivering true value through a high-quality product or service. If people find true value for the bucks they spend, customer loyalty is easy to acquire.

A true case in point here is Apple. Apple never provides special discounts or rewards for buying their product, nor do they give them out at a subsidized rate to a repeat customer. Instead, it promises to provide a unique, unprecedented experience through each of its products. In many ways, it has re-defined a category of its own. Customers easily see the value that they get by purchasing an Apple product as there are practically no competitors matching them. To Apple, a satisfied customer is a loyal customer.

Note: This approach is recommended for industry stalwarts like Apple who have the capacity to provide completely unique and premium products. A lesser brand with the same approach in most likelihood is guaranteed to fail.

Customer loyalty – Mastering the art is imperative

Brands and businesses across categories today understand the kind of competition they are facing from their rivals. If anything, it has become more important for them to look after their customer base. It doesn’t mean that brands that have reaped the benefits of a loyal customer base over a period of time can afford to relax. It doesn’t take much for people to switch brands these days. Customer loyalty management is an art. Mastering it is imperative for brands to succeed in today’s high paced world.

Guest author: Aditya is the founder of Digital Polo a unique design company that provides unlimited design work for a simple, affordable fee. Branding is simple if you know your way around the design bit of it. Through Digital Polo, Aditya has provided ample reasons to brands across the globe to buy into this claim.

The post How to Master The Art of Customer Loyalty Management appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/customer-loyalty-management/

3 Ways to Combine Social Media and PPC For More Conversions

Social media is home to billions of users worldwide. 2.62 billion, to be exact.

And PPC has a proven track record: producing $2 for every dollar spent.

The only problem is: how can you leverage both?

Sure, you can run campaigns on Facebook or promoted posts on Instagram.

Meanwhile, you can launch targeted search campaigns on Google.

But, what if you could combine both, creating a seamless experience for users from start to finish?

Here are three ways to do just that and get more conversions.

1. Target specific social post engagements with Google Remarketing

Social media is rarely a place for more conversions. People are there to engage with their family, friends, and people they follow.

Users are rarely going on Facebook with the goal of purchasing products.

Sure, they may discover products on social, but the intent isn’t to buy.

Thankfully, you don’t need it to be.

In fact, social advertising for direct sales is likely going to produce sub-par results.

It’s best served for mention monitoring, brand awareness or content promotion, instead.

So, how do you do it?

Essentially, your goal here will be to:

1. Conduct a good social media campaign.
2. Retarget those who engaged with that campaign via Google display remarketing.
3. Get them to convert on a landing page.

This will create a seamless experience from platform to platform, tapping into omnichannel marketing.

First, you will want to create a new social campaign where your goal is to either target engagement on a post or drive visits from a post back to a dedicated landing page on your website. This ensures that you can retarget those specific users, rather than a diluted pool of visitors on a public landing page.

There are two main ways to conduct this campaign:

1. Create a list you can remarket based on Facebook or Instagram engagement (on a specific post).
2. Remarket specific website visits that your campaign generates to that dedicated landing page.

Either method is greatly effective, they just utilize different strategies.

Recently, loan company Lendio conducted this campaign. The first step was generating social engagement in their niche. They did this by showcasing the CEO’s story about turning loans and awards into massive business success:

And then, using display remarketing, users who engaged with that social post were driven via PPC ads to a new landing page to close the deal:

This works for two reasons:

1. The transition from social awareness to lead qualification is seamless.
2. The campaign is directly related and targeted. People view a story about business loan success and then get directed to a landing page to qualify for their own loans.

Now that’s specificity.

If you decide to keep engagement on Facebook, you can download the list and upload it to Google as a new audience:

If you drive traffic from Facebook to your website, you simply remarket those specific page visits:

The next step in your campaign is engaging this audience with Google-based PPC ads, directing them to a landing page with lead magnets or a reason to give you their contact info.

2. Promote your content more effectively

According to recent studies, promoted content on social media is receiving 50% the engagement it got just a few years ago.

So if you think you can just share content on social and call it a day, you can’t.

That’s a sure-fire way to produce a tiny engagement rate.

And if you want your content to succeed, that’s not an option.

There are millions of pieces of content going out the door every single day now. Standing out is harder than ever.

Promoting content can’t just be sharing your latest link on Twitter.

Instead, you can combine both PPC and social. Here is how.

First off, start by promoting your content as normal on social media.

Let’s take podcasts for example. Say you want to share the latest episode of your podcast on social with some nice album artwork:

One of my favorite ways to combine PPC and social for more conversions is to:

1. Promote your latest piece of content on social as normal.
2. Follow-up by creating an RLSA audience on Google Ads, targeting those who clicked on your podcast (or any other form of content).

This way, you know those who engaged from social are hyper-engaged to your content. Meaning they are highly likely to further click when they see you in search ads.

Let’s dive into how.

First off, head to your favorite social platforms and start to promote your content as normal. For example, just share your latest content on social, like this:

You can either focus on driving traffic to your YouTube channel or a given landing page.

Doing so will allow you to create a remarketing list based on visits.

In your Google Ads account, navigate to the remarketing audience section. Here you can create a new audience based on Youtube visits (if you want to promote YouTube specific content) or your website:

Once you’ve developed your audience, create a new search network campaign, and select your remarketing audience:

This will turn your search network campaign into a remarketing campaign, but for the search network only.

Now, when you select target keywords for this search network campaign, here is where you can start to promote your content.

Target your keywords to focus on what your social users engaged with in the first place.

For example, if you promoted your content marketing podcast on social media, target keywords in that niche.

When members of your remarketing list search on Google for those terms (or related ones), your content will show up first.

But, it doesn’t end there.

Doing so opens the door for even further targeting for new audiences, aka, lookalikes.

You can then duplicate this campaign to a lookalike audience who will also be interested in your niche.

Win-Win.

Want better content promotion? Promote your content on social, remarket interested users, and then keep duplicating your campaigns via lookalikes.

3. Use interests and exclusions in Facebook Ads

The data is in: social engagement sucks. And paying to play on social is getting more expensive by the month.

No longer are the days of promoting your posts on social for pennies to the dollar.

Likes don’t mean much.

Followers don’t either.

All that matters now is driving real, targeted engagement that leads to tangible sales.

How?

By refining your audience targeting down to a small, small list.

This is where interests and exclusions come into play:

With Facebook Ads, you can start to heavily customize these factors for refined audience targeting.

For instance, target specific job titles, additional interests, and even direct segments.

You can continually add nearly unlimited amounts of these interests too.

Doing so will lower your audience pool size, but that’s good. That means you are targeting fewer people who won’t convert, raising your conversions.

In your campaign, focus on a lead magnet style offering:

Use this to drive visits back to your landing page, as Housecall Pro does:

This message match will also help to improve conversions.

Facebook Ads have countless types of campaigns to choose from:

The problem is:

Most people focus on the wrong ones. They focus on building likes, shares, and follows. Sadly, these don’t work well anymore.

With billions of users on Facebook alone, you need audiences that are highly specific.

Otherwise, you are dumping money into clicks that will never convert.

Conclusion

Social media contains billions of unique users. While this is a gold-mine of potential sales, it also presents a big problem:

Engagement rates are very low, and reaching your target market requires some ingenuity.

Enter: PPC.

PPC marketing is time-tested and proven to drive a return on your investment.

But, conversions are still low.

So, why not combine both?

Omnichannel marketing is here to stay. Utilizing both for their effectiveness can help to improve conversions.

Have you ever combined social media and PPC to improve conversion rates? What are your favorite tactics?

Guest author: David Zheng is the Founder of Growth Wit and Wisemerchant and the Head of Growth at BuildFire. He specializes in growth and content strategies to help influencers, eCommerce brands, venture-backed startups, and Fortune 500 companies grow their traffic and revenue online.

The post 3 Ways to Combine Social Media and PPC For More Conversions appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/more-conversions/

How to Get People Off Your Website and Into Your Store

You could have the greatest website in the world with the highest SEO ranking, but if you sell physical products or services, and depend on people coming to see you face-to-face, you’re probably not making much of a living.

In a world that is so digitally focused, how do you get people to tear themselves away from their screens, get into their cars, and come into your store?

It’s all about creating a customer journey and guiding your new website visitors into your space. Surprisingly, a very small number of brick and mortar business website ask their visitors to do anything at all. Yet, a simple directive is often all it takes to move people to action.

1. Tell your visitors what you want them to do

When someone lands on your website, what do they see? Is there a clear guided path, or a jumble of information? Do you expect people to find your sales, contact, or sign up page or do you place it in front of them so they don’t have to waste time searching?

If you run a yoga studio, for example, your main goal is either to get people in the door to take classes or, the increasingly popular version, sign up for online classes. Is your class schedule and sign up information front and center, or buried three tabs deep?

This hair salon, for example, has “Book Now” above the fold, front and center for every new visitor to see.

Make your website as easy to navigate and overly clear as possible. Get rid of any extra clutter that doesn’t help sell you, your products, your services, or your brand.

Website audit question: What do you want your website visitors to do when they land on your home page?

2. First offer value

Successful selling has always been about building strong relationships. The general rule of thumb is to “give” 80% of the time and “ask” 20% of the time. Show people that you are a reliable source of information in your niche. Prove that you are in this business for the right reasons and that you are a valuable, approachable resource when they have questions. Your content marketing strategy might include a blog, a free class, a newsletter, or other free content that new visitors can digest before ever deciding to buy.

While selling is still one of the most feared tasks by small business owners, selling to warm leads is far easier than selling to cold ones. Give more than you think you should. Present yourself as a helpful guide and people will come to find you when they are ready to buy.

One easy way to successfully give value while selfishly collecting leads is through an opt-in form. Have an eBook, checklist, template, video, online class, or other items that are low cost to you, but have a high-perceived value with your customers. Offer this freebie on your website and watch as prospects give you their email address in exchange.

Place that opt-in on your home page, on the sidebar of your blog, and on all other high-traffic pages.

Here’s a great opt-in for a fun, short quiz about Face Yoga. It’s different, eye-catching, and engaging.

Website audit question: What free content are you giving away to build trust with your new prospects?

3. Incentivize their first visit

Not sure what to give away with your opt-in? If your goal is to get people into your store, studio, or office, then giving a coupon or free in-person gift is the way to go. Give something that requires face-to-face contact to redeem.

One of the best small business automated email marketing campaigns I’ve seen is from a coffee house near my home. Not only did I get a 50% off coupon for joining their email list, but I also get coupons for discounted bread around the holidays, free coffee on my birthday, and double punch perks on my “member card” each Tuesday.

They got me in the door with the first coupon. Then keep me with their impressive customer service.

Website audit question: What will entice your prospects into your physical space?

4. Once you have them, spoil them

Which just goes to show, once you have them, you need to spoil them. It costs 25x more to acquire a new customer than it does to incentivize an existing one. So why do so many of us spend more time looking for the new, when we have people who are perfectly willing to hand over their credit cards right in front of us?

Do you know what else the coffee house in my neighborhood does? They send me emails when I haven’t been there in “a while.” How do they know that I haven’t been there? They don’t – they just know that I haven’t used my credit card there in a while. There are days when I go and pay for my coffee with cash.  But you know what, it doesn’t matter – I get free coupons to come back again!

Maybe you don’t spoil your customer with coupons, but maybe you hold VIP classes or sessions or you offer a “sneak peek at next season’s merchandise.”

Make them feel like you value their opinions and time and they’ll feel appreciated. Feeling appreciated, or as you belong to something, is one of the biggest reasons people stay loyal to a brand.

Website audit question: What can you do to over-deliver on customer service?

5. Give back

Show your customers that being part of your small business has a greater impact. Every time they purchase something from you, does a portion of your profits go toward a philanthropic organization? Do you support local charities or global missions? Don’t be afraid to tell the story of who you support and why.

We live in a society where companies who give back hold a greater amount of respect with their customers than companies who don’t. No matter how large or small you are, and no matter how large or small the organization that you support is, giving is giving. And that will help your bottom line.

For example, WeWood plants a tree for every wooden watch purchased.

And Box Lunch donates to organizations who work toward ending hunger in the US.

Website audit question: Can you tell your story in a way that makes people want to be a part of what you have?

Wrapping up

In this digital world, forming personal relationships is more difficult than ever, and arguably, more important than ever. The good news is, the businesses that stick around are those who value the customer experience.

Continue to ask yourself:

• What do I want my customer to do next?
• How am I improving their life with my products/services?
• How can I maintain an authentic brand?

Continue to over-deliver information, kindness, and fun, you’ll find yourself in a place of abundance and wealth before you know it.

Guest author: Rachel Frederick is a marketing coach for small businesses in the health and wellness industry. She teaches business owners how to focus their messaging, develop a consistent brand, and automate processes so they can spend more time doing what they love and less time in front of a screen. Read more about her at www.thewellbalancedbusiness.com

The post How to Get People Off Your Website and Into Your Store appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/how-to-get-people-off-your-website-and-into-your-store/