No time for excuses!

Retail customer retention marketing takes planning, attention to detail and knowledge. But the investment will pay off.

All I need is new customers...Once I get a customer, I keep them...We've been in business for 40 years, everybody knows me...Advertising, I don't need it, everybody knows me...I'm not going to give anything off to my customers, only new ones...I don't need to advertise, I rely on word of mouth; that's the best.

All too often we've heard retailers express these sentiments. In years past, especially, in the 1980s, small- to medium-size retail establishments, could have this mind set and successfully develop their business. This was primarily due to the tremendous volume and amount of discretionary dollars that were being spent. Unfortunately, this current recession has laid bare this view. For the smaller retailers to maintain their market share or increase it, they are going to have to implement customer retention programs designed to reward their best or even all their customers for doing business with them. If retailers don't, competitors will grab their customers with their own programs, thereby eroding retailers' customer base.

This article is designed to provide the small- to medium-size retailers with an overview of the financial benefits of a successful customer-driven direct mail program. Notice that we referenced this segment of the retail establishments. It has been our observation that direct mail services are plentiful and at competitive cost for larger list and mailing volume. However, where is a small retailer going to turn if they only have a 5,000-, 25,000- or even a 50,000-name database. By and large they are effectively excluded because minimum charges make printing and list enhancement services expensive. We will describe how to set up a program, basic information that should be captured on each customer, ways of utilizing your customer database and, finally, some creative samples of mailings that have been sent to the stores' respective customers.

Objectives To A Successful Customer Retention Program

There are three primary objectives that any store needs to accomplish with this type of program. They are:

* Get your customers to buy more product or service from you.

* Get customers to shop more frequently.

* Encourage your customers to refer new customers to you.