Cover Story: 50 Best Tips of 2010
11. Get closer. Offer customers an outlet to discuss their shopping experiences both good and bad. Listen to what they have to say to make improvements. The answers may provide useful insights into better products and/or enhanced services.
Andrew Benett, Arnold Worldwide
"5 Ways Retailers Can Cash In on the Back-to-School Season," Aug. 24, The ROI Report
12. Make it easy to find help. Your website should offer links to helpful information such as support information, user communities and frequently asked questions (FAQ). A customer with a question who can easily find a helpful answer on your website is a happy customer.
Eric Groves, Constant Contact
"How to Turn Customers Into Raving Fans," July 20, The ROI Report
Database Marketing
13. "People who become [social media] fans of retailers are usually their best and most engaged customers. Retailers should think about segmenting those customers and treating them as they would their traditional best customers."
Kevin Ertell, ForeSee Results
"Is Facebook a Friend to Retailers?," March, Retail Online Integration
14. Identify customers who are likely to "crossover" and buy from other merchandise divisions. If a men's shoe customer is willing to buy men's outerwear, then you have a customer that could receive a men's outerwear targeted offer. Conversely, it's wise to identify customers who are unlikely to crossover and buy from another merchandise division. It's this audience where you save a ton of advertising expenses and, as a result, become more profitable.
Kevin Hillstrom, MineThatData
"3 Ways to Improve Offline Targeting," March 2, Dear Dr. pROfIt blog
15. Filter your housefile on the basis of multiple online channels. In other words, classify customers who buy from multiple online channels e.g., email, search, affiliates, banners, social media, etc. These customers are moving further and further away from catalog marketing.
Kevin Hillstrom, MineThatData
"4 Ways to Filter Customers for Profit," Feb. 23, Dear Dr. pROfIt
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