Checklists for Converting Prospects to Buyers to Multibuyers
This week, I offer you a simple, easy to clip (or print out) checklist of ways to convert prospects to customers. It’s my goal for you to come away with two vital ways of thinking and planning:
1. Think beyond the catalog mail schedule, and
2. Think about the customer lifecycle (prospects, one-time buyers, multibuyers and customer advocates) and how to move them higher up the food chain.
Although it’s pretty much self-explanatory, I’ll follow this up with some commentary in the coming weeks.
Checklist: Customer Lead Conversion
(based on LTV and ROI analysis)
* Add prospect to catalog schedule, mail X number of times;
* Special offer insert in catalog welcoming prospect to your company;
* Postcard series to prospect;
* E-mail series to prospect if e-mail is supplied;
* Append e-mail address and ask prospect to opt in for e-mail communications; and
* Test telemarketing call to prospect.
Checklist: Single Buyer (aka. “trier”) to Multibuyer Conversion
(based on LTV and ROI analysis)
* Special offer insert in catalog;
* Add bounceback catalog and/or other inserts to outgoing product shipment;
* Send thank-you letter with special offer;
* Send thank-you e-mail with special offer; and
* Place call to customers to thank them for their patronage.
Checklist: Gift Buyer (for another person) Conversion
(based on LTV and ROI analysis)
* Add new customer to catalog schedule (gift buyer);
* Add new customer to catalog schedule (gift recipient);
* Special offer insert in catalog;
* Add bounceback catalog and/or other inserts to outgoing product shipment;
* Thank-you letter or e-mail to gift buyer;
* Welcome letter or e-mail to gift recipient; and
* Place a courtesy call to gift buyer and/or gift recipient.
Other Conversion Odds & Ends
* Tell-a-friend offer; and
* Survey in outbound product shipments.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
