6 Revenue Hacks

6 Revenue Hacks for Your Business That Cost Nothing to Implement

Increasing sales and gaining new customers is vital for every business. Your marketing and advertising campaigns can (and should) attract new customers, but what happens next can make or break a business.

With the right game plan, you can make sure you’re squeezing the most out of every single sale to keep profits mighty and healthy.

Here are 6 easy things you can put into action today to increase revenue…

1. Know Your Customers' Lifetime Value

Before you ask yourself, “How the heck will knowing my customers’ lifetime value increase revenue?”, stick with us…

Many people take the “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” approach to sales. The more sales, the more profitable your business is, right?

Not so fast…

Of course, gaining new customers is an important part of growth, but when you consider it’s 7x more expensive to gain a new customer than it is to keep a customer, you can see how only focusing on spankin’ new sales can quickly derail profits.

What’s important to remember is that the sale doesn’t end once a new customer hits the buy button and completes checkout. In fact, it’s just the sweet beginning of a lucrative, long-term relationship as they return to buy more and more.

Tracking your customers’ lifetime value can help show whether or not that long-term relationship is healthy or not.

Here’s how to calculate your CLV (customer lifetime value):

2. Increase Average Order Value

Now that you know your customers’ lifetime value, increase it by raising your average order value. No, we don’t mean jack up your prices to crazy heights…

Here are some easy ways to increase your average order value:

  • Offer discounted bundles to encourage multiple product purchases
  • Offer free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount
  • Give a sweet discount if a customer spends over X dollars
  • Up-sell or cross-sell, which means to offer two of the same product or a second, complementary product at a discount. There are lots of inexpensive apps that you can add to your website’s checkout process that will automatically do this. In most cases, these apps will more than pay for themselves month after month.

💡 Tip: When attempting to cross-sell products to increase your average order value, we can’t stress enough that it needs to feel natural to your customers – not weird and uncomfortable. Avoid offering a second product that has nothing to do with the first product they’re buying.

Think of McDonald’s famous line, “Would you like fries with that?”. This is a natural cross-sell for a burger. Nothing weird about that, right? That is, unless we’re talking about what’s actually in that burger – eeek! But let’s stay on topic…

When you order ice cream at Mcdonalds’ (or whatever else they have for dessert these days), they don’t blurb the “would you like fries with that” line.

That may sound like an obvious thing, but it’s surprising how many people try to sell “fries” with “dessert”. Your customer literally has their wallet out. Make. It. Count.

3. Keep Them Coming Back

 

Now that your average order value is up and you’re making more per sale, it’s time to focus on keeping the customer coming back – intentionally and consistently. Notice we said “intentionally? Hoping and wishing they make another purchase won’t get you the big beans. And it certainly won’t get you consistent beans.

People forget. People are busy. People wander off to other brands. It happens.

This is where you come in…

  • Stay on top of mind.

    If you haven’t already, start a newsletter. When they need your product again, you want them to think of YOU. If you don’t stay in touch with your customers in between purchases, you can bet your boots your competitors will be happy to.

  • Remind them
    Send out replenishment reminders via email or text if they previously purchased a product that is due to be running low. If your business offers memberships, send out reminders when renewals are nearing.
  • Give them Special DIscounts
    Start a loyalty program to show them how important they are. What’s sweeter than knowing you’re getting a discount that’s not available to every Joe Shmoe?
  • Show Them What You’re Made of
  • If they already know and trust your brand, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in more of your products/services. Show them what else you’ve got!
  • Re-engage Them

    Poof, your customer dropped off the face of the Earth. Now what?

    If your digital outreach attempts fail, try sending them a postcard – or even a handwritten letter. Let them know you’ve missed them! Showing that you care enough to notice their absence goes a long way!

4. Turn Customer Service Into a Money-Making Machine

There’s nothing more frustrating than calling a company and feeling like they don’t have time for you. Even worse, speaking with someone who can’t answer your questions or is just plain rude.

Poor customer service is one of the fastest ways to hand a customer right over to your competitor. On the contrary, great customer service is one of the easiest ways to create a lifetime customer that will keep coming back.

So, whether you’re a solopreneur or you have a team behind you, take the time to master and refine the customer’s experience when they reach out to you.

Remember, if a customer has taken the time out of their day to contact you, whatever they are contacting you about is important to them. And you guessed it, if it’s important to them, it should be important to YOU.

Bonus quick tips for your customer service team:

  • After all questions/concerns are handled, ask the customer if they are signed up for your awesome newsletter. If not, ask if they would like to be added.
  • After all questions/concerns are handled,  let the customer know of any sales or discounts – current and future.
  • Add social media links to all email signature(s).
  • Ask for reviews from happy clients – and send them a link to the platform where they can leave the review. Don’t expect the customer to search the mighty web for your platforms. It won’t happen.

5. Increase Revenue With a Referral Program

Your current customers are your most powerful and convincing advocates. They already dig what you offer, so why not reward them to tell their friends and family about you?

Why don’t customers do this automatically if they love your product(s)?

We’ll answer this question with a question…

How many products do you have in your home that you swear by? We can safely guess a lot. If you were to boast about every single one of them, you’d be a walking ad.

An incentive, coupled with staying on top of their mind is a great way to nudge them into mentioning you when the conversation allows.

6. Automate What You Can

Fill in the blanks:

If I could spend less time on ________ and spend more time on ________ , I could increase revenue for my business.

More often than not, the first blank can be automated. That’s because it’s usually tasks like following up with leads, sending out follow up emails and texts, coordinating your internal team…

Oh, and don’t forget about keeping track of it all. Ugh!

Is that really what you thought you’d be doing all day when you started your business? Call us crazy, but you probably started your business so you can grace the world with your passion.

If you take anything from this article, let it be this tip: Automate what you can so you can spend your time doing what YOU do best.