Keep customers after your pop-up disappears

The most successful pop-ups seamlessly turn first-time visitors into long-lasting, loyal customers. This is no easy feat, but a bit of careful planning can go a long way to helping you keep customers.

When you’re preparing for your pop-up, it’s essential to think about how to keep your customers engaged after your pop-up disappears. You don’t want to put all the effort into just getting them through your door. You also want to capture their attention (and their contact details) in order to take them with you wherever you go next. Here’s some advice on how to do just that.

Tell them where they can find you next

People are inundated with information on a daily basis. Media, advertising, phone notifications and so on make it very easy for them to forget even a memorable experience. If you want to keep customers, make life easier for them; tell them exactly where they can next interact with you.

This could be as simple as directing them to your website – where you have information about your next pop-up, other stores or stockists. The essential thing is to make sure you communicate this information clearly and in an effective place. You could write it on packaging, hand it out on business cards, or simply vinyl it on your store window.

And in case they look you up online – add the information to your social media profile. An informative, creative cover photo or even just a link in your bio could help them make that last bit of the journey from being a temporary customer to a returning one.

Capture people’s attention by starting a countdown

There are a number of ways you can build excitement or make people aware that their time to visit your pop-up is running out:

• Start a visual countdown to make sure your customers know when you’re leaving and how long they have to shop at your store. An A-Board outside your shop is the simplest way to do this
• Remember, nothing beats a bit of good old fashioned human interaction; so be sure to talk to your customers and remind them how much longer they have to visit the pop-up.
• Social media is another good place to do this. Don’t forget to get creative; investing in some great design for your social media presence can really help you stand out and keep customers.

Leave some kind of paper trail

Even though your pop-up is ending that doesn’t mean your presence has to disappear completely. Think about leaving flyers and business cards in neighbouring businesses, cafes and shops.

Find out who will be appearing in the store next and see if you can leave any cards with them for returning visitors. Building a relationship with the next pop-up is also a good way of making sure that if people come back and ask for you, they will let them know how to find you.

Be resourceful about how to stay in touch with your customers. This is good practice for any brand before, during and after your pop-up to help you keep customers. There are a few ways to do this:

• Capture the email addresses of your customers and add them to your email contacts for promotions and updates. Try and find an incentive to persuade them to do this – like information about discounts, or some kind of competition. When 26 Grains did this on their final day in Old Street station, they filled up a whole book!
• Send them something – physical or digital. It could be a thank-you card or an email saying you can’t wait to see them at your new location. Better yet, entice them to come visit again with a discount or exclusive event invite.
• Keep them engaged with content from your pop-up – good quality photos, videos, and event write ups and recaps can help retain their attention online.
• Last but not least, let them know in advance when you next plan to do a pop-up or are appearing at an event that they would be interested in.

Source: Appear Here Blog – http://ow.ly/yQO930ckdgB