With the holiday season right around the corner, communicating with customers is more important than ever
Small and medium businesses need to up their game to keep customers coming back.
The holiday shopping season is often the time when businesses make the most sales, and according to a new report, there are things that SMBs (small and medium businesses) could do to make it more successful.
A study released by Constant Contact revealed that about half of all SMBs get more than a quarter of their annual sales during the holiday season, and 58 percent of them say holiday customers are “extremely important” to the success of their business. Unfortunately, many SMBs are dropping the ball when it comes to turning those holiday customers into repeat customers.
One surprising statistic from the report is that 27 percent of consumers say they never hear from an SMB again after they visit or buy from the business the first time, and despite 81 percent of customers saying they’re more open to receiving mail and texts from an SMB after visiting them or making a purchase during the holiday season, less than half of those customers ever do.
In part, the problem is time. About 31 percent of SMBs are concerned about retaining their current customers, but more than half (56 percent) of SMBs say they have an hour or less each day to spend on marketing.
This is a huge missed opportunity for SMBs. According to a post on LinkedIn by digital marketeer Amber Roosen, even just sending consistent emails to new customers can help establish trust and loyalty for SMB customers. According to a Constant Contact blog post from June 2024, 34 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase from a marketing email, and it takes three new customers to compensate for the loss of one existing customer.
Fortunately, there are tons of tools available now to help you reduce the amount of time you spend staying in contact with your customers. So, with the holiday season right around the corner, the question then becomes, what have you done to build a relationship with your customers in preparation for the biggest spending spree of the year? And what do you plan to do to keep those customers coming back next year?
Feature Image Credit: Lock Stock / Getty Images
