6 Ways to Follow Up with Customers for Additional Sales

There are essentially two ways to make money in e-commerce. The first is to reach new prospective customers and convince them to buy. The second is to turn one-time shoppers into loyal consumers. While not every shopper can be converted into a brand loyalist, it’s important to understand to whom you are trying to market before you get started. With that said, here are six ways to follow up with customers for additional sales.

Social Media Marketing

To be a successful marketer, you need to go where your customers are; and there’s no better place than social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are wonderful for getting in front of customers, starting conversations and promoting your brand. If you want to engage your audience and instill a sense of loyalty, try giving your followers something to get excited about like exclusive deals or coupon codes.

Virtual Contests

Another idea is to engage your audience with virtual contests. For example, you could ask your followers to submit images of themselves using and enjoying your products in exchange for a chance to win free merchandise. Similarly, you can ask your followers to tag friends and family in a post in exchange for deep discounts or prizes. This is a wonderful way to get consumers excited about your e-commerce store.

Email Subscriptions

Email marketing might seem old school, but in truth, it is still one of the successful forms of marketing around. Even better, emails are dirt cheap to create and distribute. The best part of email marketing is consumers opt into receiving updates from your company, which means they actually want to hear from you. Now that’s marketing you can count on. Start by sending one or two email reminders a week focusing on a couple of promotions or product launches. You can then adjust the cadence over time depending on the success of your campaign.

Satisfaction Surveys

Another idea is to send a customer satisfaction survey via email after an order has been fulfilled. You can keep these short and straightforward. A maximum of five or six questions covering site usability, product quality, the shipping experience and other important topics will suffice. If you find your customers are having trouble with site usability, consider switching platforms. Shopify, for example, is one of the best e-commerce website builders around because it allows vendors to build an online store from workable templates.

Order Fulfillment

E-commerce vendors often ignore this next tip, but it’s crucial for turning one-time buyers into lifetime shoppers. Delivery is a perfect time to market your brand. Sure, they’ve already purchased goods from your site, but you should still work to ensure your brand is top of mind for future purchases when they receive their package. This can be accomplished by including flyers, coupon codes or freebies like stickers or buttons with the order.

Online Incentives

Last but not least, you may want to experiment with online incentives such as limited-time free shipping offers. This is great for converting return sales in a short period of time.

Of course, this is just the beginning. Feel free to get creative with your marketing techniques. What works for one site might not work for another. The only way to know for sure is to give it a try for yourself.