How to Turn Holiday Shoppers into Year-Round Customers

Right now your holiday shoppers are visiting your website, social media pages, and store. In just a few short weeks, though, the holiday shopping will be over, but you can get those holiday shoppers back and turn them into loyal, year-round customers with these tips.

For many retail and specialty shops, the mad shopping scramble that erupts in November shortly before Black Friday and continues throughout the holiday season leaves the business owner little time to focus on anything other than managing employee schedules, keeping the shelves stocked and neat, and helping customers find and buy the things they want. The objective, of course, is to do as much business as possible while customers are in the mood to spend and have a deadline to complete their purchases.

But if your only focus during the holidays is on getting customers to buy now, you’re missing an opportunity to make your business more profitable throughout the entire year. In addition to encouraging people to buy now, your holiday efforts should include strategies to get those shoppers to come back repeatedly after the holidays are over. Here are several tips for accomplishing that goal.

Show shoppers you care

Although the pandemic appears to be waning, it has changed consumer habits, possibly forever. Virus-related health concerns have caused a large number of people to be concerned about shopping indoors at retail establishment and eating indoors — even when stores and restaurants aren’t operating under mandated restrictions.

So, one of the most important ways to show shoppers you care about them is to let them know what precautions you’re taking to ensure their safety. The steps you take now will help them remember you as a safe and worthwhile place to shop after the holidays (and after the pandemic passes). Here are several things you can do:

Follow CDC safety guidelines regarding store capacity and mask wearing.
Be sure your employees are wearing their masks properly. If they don’t, one or more customers might complain on local social media sites like NextDoor and tell people to stay away from your store or restaurant. (Yes, people really do that. They’ll also post comments if your store or restaurant looks dirty, your employees were rude, an other things they don’t like.)
Reassure customers that you care about their safety by posting signage with the steps you are taking to keep them and your staff safe this year.
Take employees’ temperatures every day and remind them not to come into work if they’re sick or have been in contact recently with someone who’s been sick.
Post masking, capacity, and social distancing notices at the doors. If your store gets a lot of foot traffic, assign employees to keep track of the number of people entering and leaving to prevent going over capacity.
Have hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and extra masks available at the door for customers who want them.
Offer online ordering if possible, with curbside pickup or delivery options for consumers and patrons who don’t want to come into your facility.
Consider hiring extra part-time employees to help with cubside-delivery, door checks, and filling in for staff who call in sick.

First impressions are important

Aside from health-related issues, it’s crucial to make sure your business does everything it can to maximize shoppers’ first impressions in other ways, too.

Train employees to greet your customers with a smile and ask if they need help finding anything. If you have an online store or take orders on the phone, be sure the people who answer your phone are pleasant and polite with all callers. It’s always easier to get a shopper back to your store if they’re able to find exactly what they need quickly, particularly if you have friendly, helpful staff ready to assist them.

Work hard to ensure that your business is staffed appropriately at all times and have enough stock to ensure a good experience.

Train your employees to help keep the store looking as neat and clean as possible throughout the day. Hurried (and inconsiderate) shoppers can mess up counters and displays and move merchandise to places other shoppers would never look for it. Be sure merchandise is folded or hanging neatly, and that sizes and colors are where they should be.

Make it easy for new customers to navigate your store or your online storefront. In your physical location, make sure that all of your displays are well-organized and logically grouped together. If you have specific items that you know customers will be looking for during this time of year, make sure they stand out and are easily accessible. If you sell online, feature hot-selling items on the homepage, and have a navigation menu that makes it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for by category and, if possible, by price.

Don’t forget how important it is to follow through with new shoppers. If you tell a customer to expect a product to ship in a few days, do your best to get it to them early or at least on time; if it’s going to be later, make sure to contact them. Following through on your word can lead to repeat business and possibly even a good review. As important as a product may be, remember that your customers can probably find it, or something like it, anywhere. However, a good experience can stand out in their mind for a long time.

Get shoppers’ contact information

One of the best ways to encourage customers to stick around for the long haul is to ask them for their contact information, and then stay in touch with them on a regular basis. Two ways to communicate with them on an ongoing basis are email and text messaging. To get customers to give you their email addresses, try these tips:

Ask them at checkout if they’d like to get notified of sales, or receive coupons, and then have your cashier take down their email address.
Have signup forms at your cash register and other strategic places around the store. Ask customers to fill out the form and deposit it in a box to get notified of sales and special offers.
Include a flyer with email signup instructions in every package. If you use SMS text messaging, you can ask your customer to subscribe to that service. Again, put a big sign near your register and in other strategic locations inviting customers to sign up.

Be sure you have signs and put fliers in packages telling customers how to find your social media accounts, too. Let them know that you’ll post information on social media about special offers, hot new products, or tips related to using your products or services. If you have a store set up on social media, remind them of that, too. The more people who visit, like, and share your social media pages, the more customers you’re likely to attract. Word of mouth, after all, is one of the best marketing tools for small businesses.

If you sell online, have email signup forms on most of your pages. In addition, if your storefront has the capability to do so, follow up with customers who abandoned their carts, or who saved items but didn’t come back. Doing so will turn some of those abandoned carts into completed sales.

Be prepared for returns

Returns happen. Train your staff to greet people returning items with a smille and handle the return requests as expediously as possible. Teach your staff to suggest alternate products or sizes when a customer returns an item. If the customer is returning something because they had a problem with the item, tell them you’re sorry they had a problem and ask if they’d like an alternate item. Meanwhile, record the reasons for returns and, if you see a trend, see what you can do to fix it.

Learn from your mistakes

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

This statement was made by none other than Bill Gates, and it’s an important consideration for any small business owner.

While your primary focus should be on developing a slew of happy customers, remember that every unhappy customer is an opportunity to find a problem and fix it. If you handle the issue or mistake well enough, you may even be able to turn a negative experience into a reason for your shoppers to return. If you can show new shoppers that you value their time and needs enough to handle a problem quickly, easily, and satisfactorily, they’re more likely to return despite the original issue.

Assign someone to pay attention to posts from your customers on social media. Some customers will turn to social media to air their problems, so have someone keep a watchful eye on social media and address online complaints in a quick and respectful manner.

Don’t forget your current customers

In your goal to convert new shoppers into regulars, don’t forget the loyal customers you already have. Your regular clients need to know how highly you value them even if you’re being overrun by new shoppers. Some options: offer early-bird access to hot new products, or special discounts for your email list subscribers only. (Those on your email list are likely to be customers and possibly frequent shoppers.) Or, introduce a frequent shopper or discount program for repeat business. Your old customers will love it, and it will give new customers a reason to return.

Kick off the New Year with a special offer

Encourage old and new customers to come back to your store with special promotions in January and throughout the year. Run an inventory clearance sale or a BOGO. These will entice customers into your store and help you reduce inventory that might otherwise go out of date. To boost your reach, get together with non-competing merchants and cross-promote each other (that is, you send a mailing to your list for their store, and they send a mailing to their list for your store).