IF YOU ARE not collecting your customer’s information, you are missing a huge opportunity.
One of the main reasons is so you can send something in the mail to customers. I know: You’re already thinking mail is dead. However, Chewy.com sends lots and lots of mail. Not just direct-mail flyers, but handwritten thank-you cards, complete with the pet’s name and the product purchased! It shows the customer that they matter to the company and that Chewy cares about them. How do you show your customers you care?
If you wanted to do something special for a customer, do you have enough information about them? Could you pick up the phone to inform them of a recall? Could you mail them a card congratulating them on their wedding? Could you remind them that their pet’s birthday is just around the corner?
Your list is everything. Think about how pet sitters, dog walkers, sales reps and mobile groomers have all of their clients’ information in a database. That’s like gold to them. They know every last detail about the pets and their owners. Now, apply this to retail, groomers, trainers and day cares, and think how these businesses can benefit as well from having their own thorough customer list and database.
Consider if you decide to move locations, or sell the business. You’ll want everyone to know about your move, or that a new owner is taking over and encourage their continued support and thank them for their years of business.
Here’s the information I believe you should collect from your customers and how you should tag them in your system/identify them so you can communicate with them based on their needs.
- Full Name
- Spouse’s / Partner’s Name
- Address
- Email
- Cell Phone
- Pet’s Names and Birthdays
- Customer’s Birthday
- Dog, Cat, Fish, Horse or Bird Owner
- Breed of Dog, Cat, Bird, Etc.
- Puppy vs. Senior Pet
- Pet Gender
- Multiple Pet Family
- New Pet Owner
- Loyalty Program Users or Frequent Buyer Food Program Users
- Event Attendance
- Participate in Training Classes
- Grooming Customers
- Top Customers (25 Percent Customers)
Having this kind of data about your customer is key. The online stores have it and use it. So should you. You will impress your customers when you’re ringing them up and you ask about their pet by name, or mention an upcoming birthday. It is a step above and beyond that shows you care.
Along with this process comes having a Customer Relationship Management — or CRM — system in place to easily insert the above information, utilize your customer segmentation, pull sales reports, send emails and so on. A good point-of-sale system should allow you to track all this information right in your system, then you can export that information and load it into one of these systems, which have all kinds of relevant strategies that you could use. Of course, there’s Mailchimp and Constant Contact, but there is also Zoho, Hubspot, Salesforce, Insightly and FreshSales.
Get started immediately, even if you just use an Excel sheet. Every person you meet in person (or even online) is a potential customer, and you should grab the information that you can! In September’s PETS+, I’ll share creative ways to get this information, so stay tuned!