So what’s the big deal with newsletters? It seems these days that everyone has one. You can hardly do anything online without being asked to sign up for a newsletter. So why does everyone have a newsletter and what are they using them for?

Well newsletters are an awfully useful way to keep in contact with your customers. They let you keep your shop and your products present in your customers thoughts and they let you keep those customers informed of when you get new and exciting products in. Newsletters are really just a great way to keep your customers interested.

So this is why retailers are jumping on board the newsletter train. This is what everyone is collecting email addresses for. But now that you know the why, what about the how? How can an independent shop use newsletters to keep customers engaged? Well since you asked.

Step 1 – Build Your Emailing List

This is the first step that everyone who’s looking to get started with newsletters needs to take. Without an email list, who will you send newsletters to? This involves getting your customers to sign up for your newsletters, usually through a form on your website. This is actually one of the tougher obstacles to your newsletter, as you’ve got to convince your customers of the benefits of signing up for your newsletter. It may be that your customers will be happy to sign up just to hear more from you, but you may find other customers to be a little more precious with their email address. These customers require some incentives to push them to sign up.

Step 2 – Give Them What You Promised and Get Them Hooked

These might seem like two steps, rather than step two, but these are two things you have to do at once. In your first newsletter you should give your subscribers whatever it is that they signed up for. If you promised exciting newsletters about your new products, give them an exciting newsletter about your new products. If you said they’d receive helpful how-to articles in your newsletters, then make sure they receive exactly that. Your first goal should be to deliver whatever it is that they signed up for and hook them at the same time. Establishing your newsletter, early on, as an exciting, interesting, informative read, is a great way to guarantee people will open in future. If you’re going to get the most out of your newsletters, you need to engage early.

Step 3 – Time Your Emails

So at this point your reader are already invested. They’re ready to hear from you again. They want more of your content. So when do you send it to them?

This is a question that’s stumped many an email marketer. How often is too often? What if you don’t email often enough? The answers to these questions elude so many marketing professionals because they depend heavily on your business, your content and your audience.

So if you’re sending out newsletters to keep customers up-to-date on your new and exciting products, you need new and exciting products to keep them up-to-date on! This means you might not have a consistent newsletter schedule. Most businesses send on a weekly or fortnightly basis, but if your content revolves around showing off new products then you should only send when you have new products to show off. Similarly, if your audience is mostly made up of enthusiasts, then they’re probably up for reading about their hobby on a regular. Whereas an audience made up of one-off customers or casual shoppers may be more likely to grow bored with frequent newsletters that can come across as somewhat spam-like.

And, of course, bear in mind that every subscriber is an individual, with individual preferences and circumstances. Some may like to receive tons of updates that they like to read before bed. Where others might like to be reminded of you every now and then, but consider frequent emails to be a bit clingy for their tastes.

This is the hardest step to give advice on, because every independent shop is different and no two subscribers are the same. But as long as you consider your business, content and audience you can make a schedule for newsletter content that suits everyone.

Step 4 – Learn and Adjust

See what works and do more of it. This is the principle behind a lot of human learning. You need to assess the situation and adjust to it. If you see that some emails you send are getting great open rates, think about why. If there are some products that you feature, that always get a bump in sales after featuring in an email, consider featuring more of that sort of product. As a rule, if your subscribers enjoy something, you should give them more of it.

Of course, if you really want to get into it, there’s a lot more to email newsletters, such as segmentation, automation and multi-channel engagement, but that’s all for another day. For now, just worry about getting walking these four steps and we’ll learn to run another day.

Make sure to check out our special offer from ODICCI, a CRM and email marketing platform that can help you keep customers engaged and interested.

If you have any questions about email newsletters, please feel free to get in touch.

The post How to Use Newsletters to Keep Customers Engaged first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Point-of-sale software can do an awful lot for your shop. All the big chains have been using point-of-sale software for years and with retail becoming an ever more competitive field, independents can’t afford to fall behind. Currently as few as one in three independent retailers are using POS software. The rest are running on pen-and-paper, or excel spreadsheets.

For some retailers these old-fashioned ways of handling sales and inventory are a point of pride. It’s a good feeling to know you’re keeping up without having to rely on these modern, electronic systems. But by passing these duties on to an ePOS system, that keeps track of your business automatically you can focus your efforts on other important parts of your business that can’t be run by a machine. Without having to fill in spreadsheets or hand-count inventory, you and your staff can save a huge amount of time. And remember, time is money, especially in retail.

If used properly, an ePOS system can be your new star employee. But first you need to know just what exactly point-of-sale software can do. Which is an awful lot. From tracking stock, to following your employees’ sales figures, to keeping track of loyal customers through their card payments. Point-of-sale software can do it all. Even if you’re one of the independents that has POS software in place, you might not be making the most of it. Many retailers don’t realise the full extent of what point-of-sale software can do for you. well, really, it all starts with tracking.

Tracking, Tracking, Tracking

And yet more tracking. It’s one of the most fundamental uses of point-of-sale software. You can use it to track sales and instantly connect your sales figures to your stock. You can use it to automatically monitor what your customers are buying and when they like to make their purchases. You can keep an eye on which of your employees are making these sales. You can follow your loyal customers and what they like to buy.

As we’ve all heard before, knowledge is power. By tracking these stats you can shape how you sell and who you target. You can shape staff rotas so you have the manpower you need, at the times you need it most. You can keep track of when your best customers like to shop and make sure you’re there to greet them personally. A little knowledge can go a long way to helping your business thrive.

After Tracking Comes Analysis

Data is a valuable thing. With good analysis, data can inform even the toughest business decisions, letting you manage your business with confidence. And the thing is, your business has data. Data on every sale you make, every customer that buys from your shop, every item you sell. You have information on what sells when. You have info on which of your employees sells the most. Which of your customers buys the most when they shop. But most retailers aren’t making use of this data. Many retailers don’t realise that they have this data at their fingertips. Even if you do realise the value of it, getting this data together to analyse can be very time consuming. Fortunately, all good ePOS offer real-time sales reports, to keep you informed.

With the right point-of-sale software you can analyse all this data you collect to not just track what’s been going on, but also predict what will happen next. Knowing what sold well, at what points in a year means you can predict what will sell well, when, next year. Without this sort of data analysis you’ve got to make a lot of guesses and assumptions. With it, you can make confident, fact-driven decisions that are more likely to have a bigger, more positive impact on your business.

Make sure to check out this article from Ashley Gilgrist at ePOS provider Vend. It covers a lot of the reasons why independents are getting ePOS for their shops and why return buyers are willing to put more money into their ePOS.

Get a 30 day free trial of Vend’s EPOS for retail!

Lastly, if you have any further questions about point-of-sale software, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The post Point-of-Sale Software: What Can it Do For You? first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

There’s no doubt that the world is addicted to the internet. Many people are connected to the net all day, every day. This is something that some business owners are leveraging to their advantage. Many business owners focus on customer satisfaction as one of the major keys to success, yet so often these same business owners turn their nose up at public wifi. It offers a convenient line to friends, family and the internet at large. Customers don’t want to be disconnected when they walk into your shop and the recent market research suggests that customers spend more time, and money, in shops that let them stay connected. It’s not surprising that free wifi has been incorporated in many big chain businesses. But independents are missing out.

Here are three reasons why free wifi can really help your in-store experience, bring in more customers and keep them happy.

Attract More Customers

Having an internet connection makes people feel more comfortable. Customers will feel more at home in a store that doesn’t break their connection to the web, to their friends and family. It’s no surprise that customers tend to stay longer in places where free Wi-Fi is offered. Comfortable customers are also more likely to recommend you to their friends. This means more foot traffic into your business and more happy customers to continue the good word of mouth to other shoppers.

Another Means of Marketing

Something that isn’t often thought about with public wifi is the mechanism by which your customers sign in to your wifi. Some wiifi providers let you customise a landing page for your business. This lets you show different real-time offers to customers as they’re signing in. This is another dimension to your marketing you can use to show shoppers the products they might have missed walking around your shop. You can even use your wifi service to complement your in-store experience, expanding your marketing space for customers that use your public wifi.

Let Your Customers Spread the Word

With access to wifi in your shop, your customers will be able to connect with their friends, family and the random strangers that they’ve added on Facebook. This means they’ll be talking to all these people while they’re inside your shop, surrounded by your products. Letting your customers talk to their friends while they’re in your shop means you’re letting them talk about you. You’re letting them share photos of your products to their social media. You’re letting them spread the word about your shop. And what’s more, if they’re in your shop, they probably fit your customer profile. This means their friends, that they’ll be spreading the to, are also likely to be your kind of customer.

Check out our article on public wifi, featuring XLN, one of the UKs foremost public wifi providers.

Have a look at our special offer on public wifi for your shop.

If you have any questions or thoughts on public wifi, get in touch with us here.

The post What Free Wifi Can Do For Your In-Store Experience first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

With cashbackAPP, you only have to do one thing: sell. Don’t worry about rewards cards, your customers can use their bank cards! You don’t need to gather their sensitive information, you just need to register with cashbackAPP as a cashback point for your customers! It’s simple and easy to set up.

Fill out the form below for more information

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The post cashbackAPP – Modern, No-Hassle Customer Loyalty first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

All retailers have customers they know and customers they don’t. There are customers who wander around the shop, browsing and talking and eventually buying. And there are customers who march in, make a purchase, and march back out again. Yet regardless of which group they fit into, these are all customers. They’re all part of your shop’s community. They all spend their money with you. They’re all interested in what you have to sell. But how do you keep them coming back? How do you keep them loyal?

Loyalty Problems and Solutions

There are plenty of strategies for driving loyalty. But most of these require you to keep contact with your shoppers, who don’t necessarily want to give up their contact info. Others require the use of a loyalty card, but no customer wants to carry a dozen different cards around, for all the shops they visit. CashbackAPP, seen in the above video, are a company that’s trying to deal with these problems. With loyalty rewards tied to their bank cards, customers don’t have to carry around a special loyalty card. Nor do you have to gather all their private contact info. You can simply let your customers buy your products with their bank card and you’ll both reap the rewards. It’s not just about loyalty either; making loyalty and rewards smooth for your shoppers also improves the customer experience.

Loyal customers will come back to your shop again and again. Spending their valuable time, and equally valuable money, at your shop, on your products. Loyal customers go much further to support their local stores than disinterested customers. If you can bring shoppers back in to your shop, whenever they’re out, you can build a community of dedicated, loyal customers. Which is a very powerful thing.

If there’s anything more you’d like to know about loyalty and rewards, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The post Customer Loyalty Through Their Bank Cards first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

The number-one thing that a prospective customer wants is to buy something. The first thing a retailer needs to be able to do  is fulfil the customer’s hopes of finding something to buy. Connecting a customer to a product is the basis of retail. But sometimes retailers forget this; it’s easy to get caught up in the other parts of growing a business. Growing your social media following, expanding your network of suppliers, getting an army of affiliates to market your products. These are all things that can grow your business. But if you can’t connect a wandering shopper to a product it’s all for nought.

In the end, you need to be able to connect your customers to your products. Of course, it helps if you’re enthusiastic about what you sell, but in our experience that’s rarely a problem. Most of the retailers we talk to got in to retail because they love their products. Fashion enthusiasts become fashion retailers. Sportsmen and women open up shops for the sports they love. Even coffee enthusiasts import beans and blends from around the world and sell them in specialist coffee shops, to support their fellow coffee-addicts here in the UK. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If you’re going to dedicate your time, effort and money to something like a shop you might as well sell something you’re passionate about.

The Personal Touch, A Friendly Recommendation

Sometimes shoppers need a little advice on what to buy. Another opinion, especially an expert one, can be very helpful. You know your product better than anyone else. With a little knowledge about what the customer is looking for, you can help find the perfect product for them. This is something that your customers can only get with you, in-store. Remember that you can be your shops biggest asset. If you can connect your customers to the products they’re looking for, you’re providing them a valuable service. This’ll bring customers back in to your store, in person, to engage your services again and again, to give them a better shopping experience than they could get anywhere else.

If you have any thoughts or questions about connecting customers to products, get in touch with us here.

The post Retailer Talks: Connecting Customers and Products first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Facebook is probably the most used social media platform worldwide and its capabilities when it comes to marketing are endless. Of course, there are tons of other places where business owners can do their marketing, but there’s something unique about Facebook Ads. Unlike Google AdWords where keywords are the main factor for targeting in search engines, Facebook incorporates so many other factors which every marketer must take into consideration for a successful campaign. It’s no longer the Keywords’ game.

Here are three different ways on how to utilize Facebook advertising to increase your reach and ultimately grow your business.

Don’t just rely on one campaign

This is an unexpected hurdle that many marketers fall at. Most people create one campaign and hope it will turn out to be a winner. Facebook ads, like all advertising, are a little unpredictable. Niche differs from niche and so every marketer needs to evaluate their ads for what’s working. This usually takes the form of split testing, where one multiple ads are compared for their effectiveness, in order to find a winning ad (an ad that’s actually pulling in sales).

Build an email list

This is another aspect of digital marketing in general that people overlook. A great percentage of people who click your ad and eventually land on your site won’t purchase any product or service you sell at that moment. With an email list and autoresponder, you can send offers and reminders to prospective customers at predefined intervals of time. This will help increase conversion rate and remind tentative buyers about your enticing products.

Narrow your targeting down to a specific group of people

This might be the most important part of running an effective marketing campaign. You need to target certain consumers, if you want to maximise the impact of your advertising. Rather than just putting an ad out there for everyone to see, target the kinds of consumer that are interested in what you have to sell. When doing your targeting, you want to make sure you aren’t marketing to people who have no interest in what your brand offers. Facebook advertising has very useful filters for that. You are able to choose the age range of people, sex, interests and so on. This means you can make sure the person seeing your Facebook ads is exactly the sort of consumer who’ll be interested in buying your products.

By following these steps, you can make sure that your Facebook ads campaign is hitting the right users, who already look like a future customer of yours.

Check out our special offer on email marketing – it’ll go great with a new Facebook ad campaign for your shop!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here.

The post How to Use Facebook Ads to Grow Your Business first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

Instagram is a brave new frontier for independent retail. Independent retailers are sharing the quirky, interesting things that make their shops unique with thousands of customers. And they can’t get enough.

Advertising on Instagram can help you to drive awareness increase customers and share your story amongst a highly engaged audience

Being independent gives you a huge advantage with Instagram. It’s a platform that’s been built around sharing visually interesting and unusual things with other users and being an independent retailer already makes you unique and unusual; no one would look twice at a picture of some soulless, prepackaged goods from a supermarket or big chain store. But the unique and interesting wares of a plucky independent store can go an awful long way on Instagram. People love to post and share interesting things for their friends to see, which means if one local customer can find you on Instagram and share you online you might find that some of their friends in the area will swing by your shop themselves. It’s a kind of advertising that can really help independents to not just compete with, but even beat the ad campaigns of the big chains!

And it can do even more than that…

If you register your Instagram as a business account you can track consumer interest in your posts. See what products of yours your customers are most interested in. What get’s shared or viewed the most? What are people commenting on? Instagram can track this for you, automatically, making it easy to keep track of your customers interest in your products. By tracking your stats you can build your following, which in turn builds your customer base and spreads your reach.

With a business account, you can also use your Instagram as an online store front. You know you can show off your products on Instagram, but did you know you can also share your location and other information with prospective shoppers? You can entice new customers with your products and they can find your physical, offline shop as well!

Check out our article on training your team to manage your digital presence.

If you’d like to know more or you have any questions, please get in touch here.

The post Instagram Can Get You Discovered, Drive Engagement and Even Increase Footfall – Find Out How! first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

There are lots of different things you can do as an independent retailer to keep a customer loyal.

First of all one of the tricks that our retailers tell us is to know them as a person – not just a customer. We spoke to Ana Rodriguez and Simon England to find out various ways they keep a customer loyal to your shop. For instance, they share some tips like the benefits of giving your customer discounts, loyalty cards, and knowing them by their name.

‘By the retailer, for the retailer’ are tips and advice shared within the independent business community, specially relevant to help all retailers adapt to the digitally enhancing world we live.

Ana Rodriguez is from Santamaria Shirtmakers. They stand out as a London based Tech-Tailoring start-up. Hence the bespoke shirts are made in a family workshop in Madrid using only the finest Italian fabrics. As a consequence, Santamaria family has more than thirty years of experience in men’s tailoring.

Simon England is from The London Cycle Workshop. TLCW is an established independent cycle business open daily, serving London’s fast growing cycling community for over five years.

Last but not least, join Save The High Street Movement now: https://savethehighstreet.org/join-the-movement

Be part of the Retail Advisory Board: https://savethehighstreet.org/retailer-advisory-board

Please leave us a comment if you had any thoughts and in the meantime don’t forget to like and subscribe our Youtube channel.

Video produced by City House Media: http://www.cityhousemedia.com/

The post What Makes a Customer Loyal? first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

ODICCI is a software platform that empowers multichannel B2C & B2B marketers to create interactive experiences that stand out and drive more clicks, views, and conversions. The platform makes it easy to build, publish, and manage interactive experiences at scale. Create an engaging campaign in minutes that will surprise and captivate your audience – no developers needed!

INTERACT: Build interactive content to better engage with your audience. Use pre-configured modules for quizzes, surveys, gamification, ratings and more.

REWARD: Generate new revenues through personalised rewards. Amplify your marketing efforts with dynamic allocation of exclusive prizes and offers.

REPORT: Review and analyse your results. Gain insights with real-time charts and graphs, get the most out of your data and act faster.

INTEGRATIONS: Connect ODICCI directly with Point of Sale, e-Commerce or CRM programme(s) and manage any customer updates. Automatically enrich your database with never-seen-before declarative data. Leverage your customer relationship by sending highly targeted campaigns.

See how ODICCI can grow your database:

scribbler – in store data capture from ODICCI on Vimeo.

Request more info below…

The post FREE Email Marketing Consultation: Maximise Your CRM Outreach and Data Capture first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.