Acquiring and Retaining customers is the ONLY way to build a brand & increase your product sales. You want to build a business where you pay to acquire a customer 1 time and they keep coming back every time you release new product.

 

Every decision you make, this needs to be in the back of your brain.

 

Returning customers Average rates:

• Year 1 you should shoot for 10% returning customer rate
•  Year 2: 15-25% returning customer rate
•  Year 3: 30% +

 

 

Why Retain Customers is so important?

Returning customers create a snowball effect for you. They will tell their friends to buy your product, and they will come back to buy more of your product when you release new gear.

 

Once this snowball gains momentum, it’s hard to stop and this is why many founders let off the gas and get complacent.

 

 

1. Custome Lifetime Value ( CLTV ) and Paid Ads

When you’re building a brand you will have bad days with paid advertising. Especially with the recent social media/algorithm changes, ad performance changes daily.

 

Remember: If a large company i.e Costco decides to pump money into ads then cost will go up for the day and performance will tank. It’s part of the game.

 

If we have a bad day we usually don’t touch anything in our funnel. If it’s 3 bad days in a row then we will make some changes.

 

If your CLTV is $500, it is easier to stomach bad days for ad cost. This doesn’t mean go spend and lose money… We don’t like that model. It means if you are at least break even (Ad Cost + Product Cost + Shipping Cost + Admin), you shouldn’t be too worried about it for a few days.

 

 

2. Product Quality

To keep customers, you need to make high-quality product and this means not cutting corners and putting in the work and research to make an excellent product.

 

How to do this?

• This starts with researching and finding a good supplier. This can be a huge pain in the ass, but it’s worth it.

• Once you have a good supplier, you need to be working with them constantly on improving your product, asking them what their other clients are doing, sending them samples of other products you like and having them a copy, research, and using new materials, perfect your sizing, unboxing/packaging experience. All the little details are huge.

 

Remember when each customer can be potentially worth $1,000. It is very short sided to cut corners. People are smart. They know when a brand is producing something of high quality.

 

 

3. Price Point

Do the research and see what premium brands in your niche sell their gear for , and what are the low ends? Basically you want to price out the amazon loser types and people who like buying from small brands.

 

As the brand grows you slowly want to increase your price. This continues to give the perception to previous customers that the brand is evolving.

 

What not to do ?

Running sales like we talked about is a guaranteed way to make short-term money, BUT you will devalue your brand and the customers that have bought from you.

 

What to do ?

You always want to be coming out with new products, send emails about the new product, and run ads with the new product. This is the easiest and best long-term solution to maximizing the value you get from each customer.

 

Let’s go over some examples:

 

The Nike Cortez: This was released in 1985 by Nike and they are still selling it today with updated colorways. Remember adding variations to best sellers is FREE CASH.

 

 

Car/Truck Manufacturers: These companies are the kings at taking a proven car model adding some new features to it, colorways, and packages and selling or leasing to returning customers every year.

 

 

Think of the Ford F150. First made in 1975, the modern version compared to the first version don’t look too different. Sure, new technology but the overall body lines haven’t changed that much in 45 years. Same formula when you look at all the best brands in the market.

 

 

 

4. The Snowball Effect

Remember the brands Lost Enterprises, Quiksilver, Fox, No Fear, Famous Stars and Straps, Volcom, Black Flys, Tapout, etc.

 

All of these brands were HUGE 10 years ago. In every department store, celebrities wearing their gear, in every magazine, these brands dominated the apparel game before customers shopped online.

 

During their glory days these brands built such a massive snowball that the still are running today. When’s the last time you saw someone wearing a Tapout Shirt? 10 years ago every meathead or wannabe fighter could be seen with a shirt or bandana on.

 

The point is: When you build the snowball and momentum starts to go… It won’t stop. To not end up like these brands you need to keep evolving and stay current and not get complacent.

 

 

5. High Touch Customer Service

If you go research Amazon and learn about their customer service philosophy you will learn that’s one of the biggest things that Jeff focuses on.

 

They even go so far as to have an empty chair in big meetings reserved for the customer (Who is not at the meeting).

 

For your brand, it’s important to have a high-touch customer service mentality. There will be some people who are dicks and you can tell them to F off, but for the other 99% of customers, it’s important to do whatever it takes to make them happy.

 

 

Conclusion

Focus on your customers they are the ones supporting you and your business. Without them, your company does not exist.

 

Remember your brand needs to connect emotionally with your customer; your high-quality product and top-notch customer service will keep them coming back for years.

 

This is one of the most important pieces of building a brand. Please take the time to do it correctly.

 

 

You may also like…..