Top 3 Ways to Increase the Lifetime Value of Your Customers



Increasing the lifetime value of your clients or customers should be at the top of the list for any home-based, small or medium sized business. The reason is simple, your costs of customer acquisition are fixed no matter how much value you choose to derive from your customers. Increasing the lifetime customer value will not cost you anything in addition to what you are already spending.

The definition of customer value is simply how much revenue do you derive from your customers over the length of time you retain them as a customer. For example if a customer or client purchases a one-time product or service of yours or an affiliate product you market, their value to you is simply measured in the net profit of that one-time sale. If the product or service is one that you get a recurring or residual net profit from, the lifetime value of that client is measured in the length of time the client remains a paying client.

In terms of increasing the lifetime value of your customers the top 3 ways to do this are:

1.) Market High-Value Products to Your Customers-It may sound simple but if you have high value products or services, or services that put a significant chunk of money in your pocket on the front end, you are well on your way to increasing the lifetime value of your customers. There are a number of specialized services you can market that actually don't even cost your clients any money out of their own pocket but can pay you a significant commission nonetheless. Most people are unaware of these services but they actually provide significant value to clients while paying marketers a significant and residual income.

2.) Market Related Products or Services-Most internet or non-internet marketers know that capturing your clients contact information either before or after a purchase is crucial to providing ongoing customer service and increasing your customer's lifetime value. By using some sort of auto-responder or newsletter service you should be able to easily automate this process. Contained within your messaging should be various offers for additional and related products and services. One-Time Offers (OTO) are a useful tool in these messages as well. OTO use a very powerful human fear of losing out on something that will disappear if they do not quickly take advantage of an opportunity for a valuable commodity.

3.) Use a Follow Up System for Your Customers-The use of auto-responders, newsletters and other types of automated communications tools is essential to increasing your lifetime customer value as mentioned earlier. More specifically, well written messages can make all the difference in whether you makes a few dollars or a few thousand dollars over the course of many months or years from your customers and clients. Personalization of your messages where you cultivate a relationship is also key to developing long-term relationships and therefore long-term value from your customers. Old school techniques like actual cards, gifts and letters that come by snail mail are very useful in maintaining relationships with your clients. Again, there are some great automated tools for this as well. Setting up a strategic, well integrated system that maintains communication with your clients and provides consistent value to them is crucial.

There are numerous tools available to significantly increase the lifetime value of your customer relationships. Simply knowing the right tools and services to use is all it takes to significantly increase your lifetime customer value.

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