When I bought soap for my girlfriend at the St. Paul's Farmer's Market the seller gave me a loyalty card that would entitle me to $7 worth of merchandise for every $40 I purchased. On the back was her information so that I could contact her with any questions that I had about the product. The card reminded me that it is not enough these days just to concentrate on the current transaction, but a seller must be thinking about ways to bring their customers back for more of their product as soon as possible.
Building a long term relationship with the customer can be as easy as having an easily identifiable brand that customers can associate with and feel comfortable with. Within that brand it can be important to have variations that are consistently changing and making the customer aware of it. This is one of the attraction points of a market - products change with the season.
At the market level, it can be really important to have some type of consistent communication with your customers. In the book I am reading right now, Never Eat Alone, the author calls the concept "pinging." He says that you can build relationships with customers by constantly staying in communication with them. I have seen a mix of different ways of doing this including newsletters, news feeds, and twitter feeds. The best I have seen have been those that alert you or even entice you with potential deals. I like those markets that keep in touch with me and tell me what I can expect at the market. Relationship alone is not sufficient for me to return to a market - I want to know that I will be seeing fresh things there.
I would love to hear what your area market does to stay in touch with customers like you. What are other things you would like to see them do?
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