I’ve planted a few hundred beans in the garden this year. Every time I plant beans, only about half of them survive past the baby stage. I’ve learned to expect to lose many of them to slugs, squirrels, and poor soil in general. I can do some things to minimize the losses but nothing works …
Tag: customer retention
Start more than what you need
Over winter I planted about 20 trees and shrubs, most of them dormant. Now as spring starts to warm everything up, the majority of them have come alive and started to grow. But a few haven’t. I don’t know if they didn’t like being uprooted and shipped, the area they are planted in, or if …
Measure, tweak, and keep the winners
Today marks the start of the spring planting for early vegetables in Portland. Plants that can take a bit of cold and wet still. But that’s not a hard and fast date. Each plant has different needs and the weather is never perfect. That’s why I already have 524 seedlings started outside. Some are ones …
Too busy for customer retention
I heard from a Shopify store that they are too busy for customer retention because all their time is focused on customer acquisition. They didn’t realize that they were the ones creating the problem with their business. When you ignore customer retention, customers will leave. Some might stick around but those will be the minority. …
Is it cold in here?
It’s starting to get cooler here as we get into autumn. Cool, but not quite cold yet. You know, that borderline area where you might turn the heat on for a bit but it’s not quite needed all the time yet. This year we also replaced our central heat with per-room heaters. They’ll be more …
What actions are you taking to bring customers back to your Shopify store?
When you start to improve anything, having a guiding question or two can help you focus on the important. If you’re trying to improve your customer loyalty, ask yourself: "What actions am I taking that will make customers want to come back?" Not what deals. Not what campaigns. What actions. Answer that and follow it …
What will you do to keep customers this week?
One of the primary functions of your business should be to keep customers you’ve already won. Existing customers are easier to entice to buy again (e.g. 27% vs 3% conversion rates), they spend more, and you’ve already built-up some measure of trust with them. Every week you need to be thinking of how you’re going …
Analyze how your holiday customer behavior was different
Ah, September. This has been one of the longest and one of the shortest years ever. Now would be a good time to start to analyze the customer behavior of last year’s holiday shoppers. Did you have a lot of one-time buyers from the holidays? How many stuck around and bought again? Are they still …
No way to ignore it, you have to send that email
If you want repeat customers, you have to email them. Sure some might come back on their own or when they see you on social media. But you’ll have no control when that happens. Sending an email, even a simple one, will let you decide when you want customers to come back to your store. …
It’s time to shift into brand building
With the winter holidays over, now’s the time to start nurturing your new customers. They’re probably burnt out with product offers by now so focus on brand building types of content: how to use their products, other customer’s experiences, proactive customer service. Keep it up during the post-holiday slump and eventually they’ll come back and …