A Customer is
for life, not just Christmas
by Dave Bromley Do
you know exactly how much it costs you to acquire a customer
on eBay? Basically it is fairly simple to calculate, it is
the listing fee plus the Final Value Fee. Of course to be
totally accurate you should also average the cost of any listing
for unsold items and add these as well but lets not make it
too complicated. The point is that it does cost you money
to get a customer.
But
not only does it cost you money it can also cost you time.
Time to answer questions from sellers, time to pack the item
properly so that it will not be damaged in the mail. In fact
time to ensure that the purchaser is happy with the item you
have sold them.
Great,
you have a happy customer full of good will towards you and
if you are like 99% of the other sellers on eBay what do you
do? You totally ignore them, in fact you properly never even
have contact with them again unless they just happen to bid
for another of your items.
Just
think about it for a minute: you have a satisfied customer,
you know their physical and e-mail addresses and you know
the type of products they are interested in and are prepared
to buy. That is the kind of information a professional marketer
will kill to get and you have had it handed to you on a plate.
Building up a relationship with a customer can take time but
the rewards are well worth the effort. I have customers who
have made ten or more sales from me over the last couple of
years because they know me and trust my products. If you can
build that kind of trust with your customers it can be worth
a small fortune to you.
Ebay,
very rightly, have strict rules about sending out unsolicited
e-mails but I use the following method to develop a relationship
with my customers. When I send out the item they have purchased
I include a compliment slip. These can easily be produced
using Microsoft Publisher or Word. I thank them for making
the purchase and I tell them that I often have similar items
for sale. Also that I would like to occasionally e-mail them
with details of these items but if they would prefer not to
receive the e-mails then just to let me know. To date I have
never had anyone come back to me to say no.
To
comply with Ebay rules just on the strength of this slip I
could not start sending advertising e-mails because the person
has not taken any active measure to agree. In other words
they have not said yes, they have just not said no. After
a couple of weeks I send them an e-mail containing a free
offer, perhaps a report or e-book. There is no product offer
or attempt to sell anything at this stage I just make it very
easy for them to request the free item by sending a blank
e-mail to me. Once they have asked for the book or report
they have to use the technical term "double opted in"
to your list.
There
are good months and there are bad months on Ebay, it is the
nature of the business. But if you have a list a past customers
who know and trust you then in a quiet month you can quickly
e-mail them an offer which can then generate enough profit
to make up for any fall off in your auction sales.
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