People tell me that customers tend to be one and done when it comes to shopping with them. Meaning they shop once or they shop here and there every now and again. Primarily, when there is a deep discount attached to it. Well, I have a little secret that some big companies use and I use with my clients. I have deemed it the “Next Purchase Discount Card”. This is a simple way to reward customers who shop with you. Some people have argued with me, “I don’t want to reward people unless they spend x amount of money”. Well, here is the problem with that, unless you’re the innovator or creator of what you have, people can go else where to purchase. People can read a million blogs focused on small business advice.
Lets not focus on giving a discount, lets focus on how the next purchase discount card can breed loyalty within your company. For example, say you run an online boutique and sales are low. The following month you introduce your next purchase discount card to your audience. There are 20 people who shopped with you that month and received a card. Now lets say 40% of the customers return the next month for another purchase, and they do this for the next 12 months. Thus, creating you a stream of loyalty. This will opt them into your brand; that’s your main goal. I ‘d rather someone come back every month to shop with me. Regardless, if they are getting 15% off their order. The point is that they’re choosing to shop with me time and time again. After awhile, that discount will not matter if you implement other strategies to foster solid relationships with them.
Here’s how you can design a nice “Next Purchase Discount Card” to help retain your customers…
Open Your Design Program
I will be using PicMonkey because it is a free platform.
The dimensions of the postcard I did was 1225 x 700 (pixels). Before you start designing, please pay attention to the size of your postcards. Companies like Tiny Print or Moo are also great to use.
You will be creating one card with two sides. Let’s start with the front side.
Pick Your Background
You have the option of doing a solid color or a print. I say keep this as simple as possible. I am doing a solid color and adding my logo on the front. It’s important to note that my logo is a watermark; I had my graphic designer create it for me. Make sure you have a watermark to place on your card.
Next, step by step on how I created my border:
Add a layer of a rectangle over the background. Then, add another layer of a black rectangle.
Designing The Back Of Your Card
Here is where the next purchase discount card really comes into play. Their are a couple of things you’re going to want to do on the back of this card.
- Thank them for ordering
- Offer care tips – if necessary
- Provide discount code
- Show social media icons
I know most small businesses are on a tight budget, even when it comes to, printing materials they need for their business. I suggest designing a couple of these and then going to get them printed. I am not a fan of writing on things but if you want to write your promo code every month that’s totally up to you. You can also just go with a random set of letters and numbers like I did. There is nothing wrong with either way.
As you can see in the footer I added social media icons. This is a great way to remind your customers what platforms you’re on. I have purchased several social media icons from Creative Market. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Vector Social Media Icons
- Watercolor Social Media Icons
- Hand drawn Social Media Icons
- Gold Social Media Icons
Outside printing for your next purchase cards, at most you should spend is $20 designing it. That’s only if you want to buy fonts and social media icons. I used the standard font in PicMonkey, but I do own several fonts. I personally believe you don’t always have to break the bank to get things done for your business. If you’re not familiar with graphic design it can be tedious at first, but you only have two options; doing it yourself or hiring someone else to do it. Trust, doing simple things like this will boost your confidence up a notch.
My final thought would be to make sure you have some next purchase discount cards designed before this upcoming holiday season. That way your ready to start a streamline of customers shopping with you.
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
