Forget location, location, location. Here's a new business mantra: retention, retention, retention. Most marketing dollars are spent on attracting new customers (acquisition), rather than building relationships with current clients (retention). Yet these "soft" marketing tactics don't always provide hard returns relative to their cost. Retention marketing is where revenue - and profitability - shifts in your favor.

1) 10:1 Odds There is a saying that it is easier to get $10 from someone you know than $1 from a stranger. Makes sense, doesn't it? Relationships breed trust and expedite your sales process. Once they've experienced a positive transaction with you, customers won't think twice to spend more with you. The odds are in your favor.

2) Profitability We know that it costs six times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. By the time you calculate the actual total cost of the initial sale, what do you think is the average net profit value of a first time customer? The answer is $0. Yes, that's right. Zero. Returning customers add more to your bottom line profitability. New customers are great. But nurturing relationships with your existing customers will provide higher recurring profits for your business.

3) Six Degrees A customers’ value includes their network of friends, family, acquaintances, and business associates. Kevin Bacon aside, one of those people they’re connected to might be your next client.

Staying in touch with your customers and providing added value keeps you top of mind for just the right moment that the person they’ve been talking to needs exactly what you offer. Personal testimonials and recommendations are the most persuasive (and cost efficient) marketing tools.

In many cases, when questioned further, we find that the retailers have asked for their customer’s email address in-store along with their address and phone number “for their records”. The key to alleviating concerns is to address two questions “why do you need my email?” and more importantly, “what’s in it for me?”.

People are wary of giving out personal information. You need to advise your customers how you are going to use their email address and highlight the benefits they’ll receive. Whether it is research articles, advance notice of sales, invitations to special events, new product information, customer service updates, industry trends, preferred customer coupons or special offers, they want to receive information that is tangible and relevant to them. Confirm your privacy policy and assure them that their information will only be used for direct customer communication. Remind them that they have the option to unsubscribe at any time. Position the e-newsletter as an extension of your customer service program.

Don’t underestimate our underlying human nature. People want to be a preferred customer. Whether it is "keeping up with the Joneses", or "survival of the fittest", we want to be on the inside track and don't want to miss out on advantages that others might be getting. Who wants to turn down inside information or special offers?

You’ll gain trust by showing respect for your customer’s interests and needs. Accept declines gracefully, but also take time to reassess your approach to requesting the information. And once you do have a customer’s email address, follow through on your promise by providing relevant, interesting and valuable content.

Have a question of your own? Send it to askmas@masglobal.com

While complaints about spam abound, it seems people won’t go as far as choosing to abandon email altogether. Backbone Magazine (September 2003) quoted a survey by Dynamic Markets that said that when an email system goes down, 68% of people get annoyed within 30 minutes. And for those whose jobs are directly on the technology line (Chief Information Officers and IT managers), 34% said that a week without email would be more traumatic than getting divorced.

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