Manage Your REs: Decrease Refunds, Increase Repeats!

The prefix RE is of vital importance to your business. If it's in front of the word "fund," that's a bad thing, because it means money out of your pocket. You don't want refunds. You want repeats... as in repeat business. Refunds are a sign that customers are unhappy, and just like momma, when customers ain't happy... ain't nobody happy!

You want happy customers, because happy customers are more likely to be REPEAT customers.

Repeat customers are the best kind of customers, because you don't have to spend nearly the time, effort and money marketing to them. And, the bonus of keeping these customers happy is that they can do some of your marketing for you just by word of mouth. Obviously it's a no-brainer that you want to keep these customers happy, but the burning question is, "how do you do it?"

The most important part of the equation is reassuring them... period.

Think about it; we're always looking for reassurance when we buy something. And, the more we pay for something, the more we want to be reassured. When you submit a contract to buy a house - yes... that STILL does happen from time to time in this market - you have a few days of a "cooling off" period for you to make sure that you've made the right decision. More and more car companies are giving buyers a grace period as well.

The best way for you to give your customers this level of reassurance is to build in auto-responders to keep in contact:

1. Immediately: Thank them for their purchase and praise them for their wise decision in a confirmation e-mail.

2. Day Two: Send an e-mail that asks them if they've been able to access everything successfully. This is a great way to be pro-active and get in front of any problems before they get too big.

3. Day Three: Send another e-mail that asks them if they have any questions about the product.

4. Day Four: Send an e-mail that points out specific parts of the program that you want to encourage them to use.

5. Day Five: Let them know how to get help if they need it. Also, include some answers to frequently asked questions.

6. Day Six: Ask for a testimonial. Remember the word of mouth marketing? This is a way to encourage it.

7. Day Seven: Send an unexpected bonus gift. I've never met someone that doesn't like getting something... especially for free!

If you do these things, I can assure you - see... there's that word again - that you'll be dealing with a lot more repeat customers... and a lot less refunds.