You’ve more than likely heard the saying that ‘first impressions count’ and it’s true; if you don’t give a customer or client the right first impression your chances of developing a lasting impression, and working relationship, become slim to none. We all go to great lengths to make a great first impression, whether it be developing websites with an elegant design and spectacular usability, or dressing in a tailored Versace suit with matching high gloss, raised print business cards.

However, in today’s fast and furious world we spend so much time worrying about how our first impression looks that we somehow seem to overlook the fact that if we don’t make the right lasting impression with our customers we’ll lose them forever. Keeping an existing, loyal customer is far more cost effective than winning over a new one. You should be aiming to leave each and every one with a positive, lasting impression or your business, service or product.

And that’s what it’s all about, retaining the customer.

Fact: On average it costs 7 times more to find a new customer than it does to keep an original one.

Cracking this nut is harder than it looks as the world moves into hyper-speed. Our businesses becomes automated and our lasting impression becomes nothing more than a bland blanket strategy, built around utilitarian research taken in the hope of pleasing the majority of our customers. It’s no surprise that they’re less-loyal than ever. However, investing the time and effort to make a lasting impression upon every customer becomes hard work and sometimes money and effort can be better spent elsewhere.

But for the majority of small businesses, retaining customers is critical. It’s unreasonable for us to think we can continue spending thousands of pounds every month to attract new customers when retaining your original customers can cost very little.

All it takes is the right lasting impression.

Customer Service

For us at 123Print UK, we spend many hours, sleepless nights, days and months thinking and perfecting our strategies to ensure we make a great lasting impression with our customers. One of our key areas is customer service.

For a small business, having a great customer service strategy is one key area you can make a difference. Every business is going to have its occasional mistakes or misunderstandings with its customers, so ensuring you interact with your customers in a personal, human way is crucial in retaining them. We never use robotic answer or auto reply emails, and we always ensure we have a member of our customer service team available to talk to you about your order. For a small business this is a great area to develop a lasting impression, as with the number of smart phones, tablets and even smart watches available in today’s world,  keeping tabs and in touch with your customers is easier than ever before; especially when you’re on the go.

Idea: Take advantage of smart technology by promising customers you’re always an email or phone call away. Deliver on the comments or queries made by them to ensure you make an effective, lasting impression.

Personalise it!

We touched on this briefly in our blog ‘Personalising your business’, as personalising certain areas of your business can be a boundless way to make a lasting impression. From the ‘thank you for your order’ email to delivering your product, there are hundreds of little ways you make your business more personal and stand out from the crowd, as it is the businesses who are delivering a personal experience that are leaving an excellent lasting impression and retaining their customers.

Idea: For us as a business stationery company we love the idea of dropping in a little handwritten note to say ‘Thank you for your order’ or creating personal discount codes which we randomly generate to surprise our customers!

At the end of the day it’s all marketing to us, but to the customer it is a gesture to show you’re a real person who is determined to impress and keep them coming back to your services.

Social Media

As you’ve probably heard by now, social media is a great way to keep in touch with your customers; and businesses are starting to discover and fully understand it’s a real tool for success.

Fact: 71% of people are more likely to buy from a service or brand they follow compared to its competitors.

For leaving a lasting impression with our customers we love to showcase (with their permission) their business stationery designs via our social channels. Not only do we love to see the different designs they create, but we love displaying the high quality of our products and designs. It really works in securing new clients as they can physically see our previous and current designs, but more importantly it gives our customer the chance to interact with us after the buying process with us.

All in all, making a lasting impression is something every business owner needs to take upon themselves and apply to their business. There is no silver bullet for retaining your customers and it takes hard work to meet the majority of your customers’ expectations. It’s important to remember as hard as you work to provide that great first impression which secures your customer, it’s just as important to remember to provide the work and effort that goes into developing a long last lasting impression which will motivate customers to keep coming back and using your services.