Quickly building revenue is integral to many businesses, but often it can be a minefield navigating the different options available to you. Should I be focusing on my existing customers or reaching out to new customers, potentially in new markets, to build this additional revenue?

Well the research suggests that focusing on existing customers can often be the quickest way to add revenue because you save on all those extra marketing costs and are less likely to alienate existing customers as you will be able to expend more time on them.

Here we will take a look at how you can focus on your existing customers to provide them incentives which will lead to increased revenue.

Emphasizing Experience and Enhancing Loyalty

Putting yourself in the shoes of your customer is a great way of finding out whether your business is operating as effectively as it should; it will allow you to see strengths and weaknesses and adapt accordingly. Make adjustments so that it is easier for them to make a repeat visit due to the experience that they have had, as it has been proved by studies that customers are even willing to pay more for a better experience. How do I go about doing this? Well, why not ask your customers?! Surveys and interviews are a great way of receiving customer feedback.

Loyalty is also paramount when it comes to building revenue. Look at your average coffee shop that dishes out discount cards so that your 10th coffee is free. You will be more likely to return to this venue than a new kid on the block that has no such offering. Of course, you may not be selling something that is needed or wanted every day, it could be a high-cost item like a car. Well, in this instance loyalty by delivering the best possible service is how you will retain customers, and even gain new sales due to word of mouth from the fantastic experience they have had. It is also important to engage them by having a strong social media and marketing presence so you are at the forefront of their minds.

Increasing Transaction Size

This is one of the most common ways of building revenue and is done in two distinct ways: upselling and cross-selling. Upselling is where customers are pushed to purchase a more expensive item or package. This could be done by highlighting new features on the latest item so that the customer is more likely to buy this than the cheaper item. Ultimately the customer will be satisfied as they have the best possible product their money can buy.

Cross-selling is where the customer is compelled to purchase extra products at the checkout stage of the transaction to complement the main item. When offering free shipping, companies often find that sales of smaller accompanying items increase hugely because the customer feels they are gaining a benefit by not paying for shipping costs, so they are likely to spend more, thus increasing your revenue.

Social Media

Embracing social media allows you to connect with your customers, and when you are connected with your market you are much more likely to increase revenue. Customers love to interact with brands and will do so much more readily via social media such as Facebook or Instagram than they will on your website. Don’t make them contact you via an email or phone, give them the option of social media and they will become more engaged, and more engagement means greater revenues.

Use technology to your advantage, release live video content as customers will feel like they have to watch it or they’re missing out, hence becoming more engaged. Release videos regularly so customers look forward to your next content, and help to drive brand loyalty. Your side of the bargain is also important so make sure you engage with your customer; reply to their social media queries, make sure your customer service responses are as timely and as efficient as possible, and run exclusive promotions. After all, who doesn’t like to feel that they are special and the only one receiving your exclusive new offering?

As we have discovered there are many customer incentives that can lead to increased revenue. Often these methods are staring us in the face and we do not need to have a huge marketing budget to find new business, when we can focus on extracting as much revenue as possible from our existing customers. Focus on customer experience and brand loyalty, embrace social media and use it as a tool to drive engagement, and try to increase transaction size by offering incentives such as free shipping to drive up auxiliary sales.