Do Your New Customer Deals Exclude Currents?

New customer incentives are important to many businesses. Attracting new clients is key to your growth. So many companies offer specials to attract new blood, especially companies that offer monthly recurring services like cable and mobile phones. And that six months of free or reduced service can be quite attractive.

But what happens when your current customers see the offer? Many people see the “new subscriber” exclusion and just move on. Why should they? Don’t loyal customers deserve a “thank you”? Why do companies work so hard to gain new clients while they ignore the established ones?

If you currently exclude your loyal, paying customers from deals and incentives, stop and think about why you do that. Is it the way it’s always been done? The way your competition does it? The way the industry does it? So what. Isn’t it cheaper for you to keep the customers you have? And what’s wrong with offering them a loyalty discount for a few months?

Because once companies get a certain amount each month from customers, they’re afraid to give it up. To get less. If you offer customers a loyalty discount for a few months, they may demand that price all the time, right? Maybe. So what if they do? What’s the worst that can happen — they leave? If you don’t offer them something for their loyalty they may leave anyway.

So if a discount isn’t what you want to offer, what other perks can you offer your loyal customers? Referral incentives? Think about your lowest cost items. The ones that you could offer for free. Why not offer that item for free after a year of service? Or bundle it free with a new service? (Just make sure it’s something that customers will actually want and not just a token offering.)

Change things up. Think about how you can thank your customers for staying with you instead of irritating them with “new customer only” deals. Either allow them to request the same deal — and only give it to those who bother to ask — or offer them an alternative. You do have an alternative in your arsenal, don’t you?

image: sxc.hu