If you have been reading my articles for any length of time, you will know that I am a big fan of follow-ups.

A “follow-up” is simply an email you send to a customer once they’ve purchased something from you. It’s an excellent way to stay in touch with your best leads; that is,  the people who have already bought something from you. It’s also a great way to generate more sales!

But your success with follow-ups depends on how you present your offer. If you do it the wrong way, you run the risk of having your email come across as more of a cheesy sales message.

Today I’d like to give you my top five tips on how to create follow-up offers that are sure to generate sales without ever making your customers feel like all you want to do is make more money off them.

Follow-Up Tip 1: Start with a Mention of Their Recent Purchase

A good way to make sure your customers read your follow-up – instead of dismissing it as just another commercial message – is to start it off by referencing the purchase they recently made. This reminds them of the relationship they have with you and shows them you have an important reason to be getting back in touch with them.
I would recommend you include mention of their recent purchase right in the subject line and say something like:
How Are You Enjoying Your [ENTER PRODUCT/SERVICE NAME]?

Or, if you recently delivered a service such as massage to your customer, you can use a subject line like:
How have you been feeling since your massage?

By asking them a question that refers to their previous purchase, they will be far more likely to open your email and read your message.

Follow-Up Tip 2: Keep it Personal
Make sure you use your customer’s name in the body of the email. You already have an existing relationship with this person and should acknowledge that fact. Also be sure to use your own name in the email, both in the “From” line and in your sign-off.

People prefer to conduct business with other people, not companies, so if your emails are sent from a real person instead of “info@yourcompanyname.com” and you sign the emails as coming from you instead of a company “team” you will deepen the sense of personal connection your customer has with you.

Follow-Up Tip 3: Show Genuine Interest in Them
Your customers should feel like the whole reason you’re emailing them is to make sure they’re getting the best possible results with their previous purchase. Ask them how they’re enjoying their product and if there’s anything you can do to increase their enjoyment in any way.

If they email you back with their feedback, make sure you respond whether the feedback is positive or negative. Don’t be afraid of complaints – they’re not a bad thing. They provide you with an opportunity to address a dissatisfied buyer’s issues and retain him or her as a customer.  They might even give you some good ideas on how you can improve your product or service – and that kind of information is invaluable.

Follow-Up Tip 4: Make Sure Your Offer Relates to Their Previous Purchase
Once you have asked your customers how they’re doing with their previous purchase, it’s time to present your offer to them. Now, this one is important: Make sure your offer closely relates to the product or service they bought from you.

For example, if your customer just bought a sewing machine from you, a great follow-up offer would be for one of the many software programs they can use to upgrade their machine’s functionality. Or, if you offer classes at your shop that teach people how use their machine’s built-in advanced features, these would also make a great follow-up. Both of these offers help your customers get better use out of their new machine and so they’re bound to be very appealing.

Follow-Up Tip 5: Give Them an Exclusive Discount
A great way to make your follow-ups even more compelling is to offer your customers a generous discount on their next purchase. And why not… if they bought something from you then you should reward them for that and a discount is a great way to say “thank you.”

By offering your customers a nice discount, you also increase the chance they’ll take you up on your follow-up – and a customer who buys from you twice is far more likely to become a lifelong loyal customer. These are the people you should treasure because they will end up being responsible for 80% of your sales.

Plus, they’ll also become great word-of-mouth promoters for your business – and that’s the best advertising you could possibly hope for!

Take Care of Your Best Customers, and They’ll Take Care of You…

So those are my top five tips on how to grow your sales with compelling follow-ups. Remember, if your message is authentic and keeps your customers’ best interests in mind, and if your offer closely relates to their previous purchase and helps them get even better use out of it, then many of your customers will happily take you up on your offer.

In fact, I find that whenever I present my customers with a valuable and relevant follow-up offer, 30 percent jump at the chance to take me up on it! That’s an incredible conversion rate and shows you how powerful follow-ups can be.

Do you have any questions on how to create a compelling follow-up offer? Check out my homestudy course The 6 P’s of Profitability where I show you, step-by-step how to increase your profitability!