How well do you know your customers?
Most small business owners have some understanding of who their target market is, but a great business uses technology and data to gain valuable insights about the demographics of their customers. Once you have this information, you can use it to make decisions about what products to offer, how to market your store, and how to communicate with customers.
Understanding your customers allows you to tailor your products and services to serve their needs. For a quilt store, this means stocking the best fabric, thread, and supplies, hosting great events, and setting up your store, so they can have a great experience. Luckily, digital platforms offer customer relationship management (CRM) tools to help you better understand your customers.
CRM refers to the strategies and tools business owners use to track and improve their communication with customers. Point of sale (POS) systems offer these tools to help you build a loyal customer base and increase sales. In this blog, we’ll offer six tips for making the most of these quilt shop CRM tools at your store.
Let’s get started.
One of the most useful quilt shop CRM features is the ability to create a loyalty program. Loyalty programs offer an extra incentive for customers to choose your quilt store over a competitor. Customers make purchases over time and accumulate some kind of credit — whether that comes in the form of points, cash value, or another metric — and when they accumulate enough, they receive a reward.
Loyalty rewards can include:
Loyalty programs make customers excited to visit your quilt store and turn it into a habit. You can give exclusive discounts or early access to products for your loyalty program customers to show your appreciation for their membership.
Related Read: How To Build a Loyal Customer Base for Quilt Shops
Recording information about your customers is an important part of your quilt shop CRM. These tools keep a record of what a customer purchases, the classes they sign up for, and the customer service issues they’ve asked for help with. Keeping a log of information relevant to your business allows you to engage in targeted marketing and cater to an individual customer’s needs.
Some quilt stores do repairs on sewing machines. If you offer repairs, CRM tools keep track of what repairs a customer has had done in the past. They can also be used to communicate with the customer throughout the repair process to keep them updated.
Email and SMS messages are two of the primary ways companies communicate with their customers. With quilt shop CRM tools, you create personalized messages that are more relevant to individual customers. You can use a customer’s purchase history to send them emails about fabric or craft supplies they may be interested in, or send them a personalized discount after they make a purchase.
Text messages can be used to remind customers about upcoming sales, new products, or class registration deadlines. If you offer repairs on sewing machines, you can use text messaging to keep customers informed throughout the process. Email and text communications keep your quilt store top of mind for customers.
Related Read: How To Market a Fabric Store: 7 Easy Steps
Online business reviews are more important than ever in building trust with potential customers, so ask satisfied customers to leave you reviews on platforms like Google and Yelp. You can use CRM tools to send review requests to customers through email or text. These can be sent after a purchase, when a customer’s visit to your store is fresh in their mind.
Customer reviews are valuable in helping you identify areas where your business can improve. While some reviews are more constructive than others, look for sound advice that you can practically implement. If you receive the same piece of advice repeatedly, give it extra consideration.
You collect more customer reviews if you offer some sort of incentive. Try giving customers a discount code or loyalty points as a reward for leaving their thoughts.
If you choose to offer an incentive, make sure to do so ethically. Ask customers to share their genuine thoughts rather than requiring a positive review to earn an incentive. Offer discounts, fabric products, or gift cards rather than direct monetary rewards, since it violates FTC guidelines.
By putting your quilt shop CRM system to use, you collect positive reviews that draw more customers to your store.
The “wish list” feature on your online store allows customers to save items they’re interested in to plan future purchases. This is useful for craft enthusiasts as they map out the material and tools they need for a new project. Monitoring the items customers put on their wish lists is also helpful for business owners in determining what items to keep in stock or buy more of.
Even small details like this make your site easier and more fun for customers to navigate, which increases sales.
Related Read: 9 Mistakes To Avoid When Building Your Online Fabric Store
Hosting workshops and classes is a great way to get new people in your store — and showcase the fabric and quilt supplies you offer. You can teach a certain sewing or quilting skill or show attendees how to make a specific craft. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate how to use the tools and fabric you sell, so attendees become more familiar with them.
These events create a sense of community around your business. Attendees can invite their friends and make friends with those they meet at the event. Soon, these customers will look forward to attending events at your quilt store — because of the great fabrics you offer and the camaraderie they feel with you and your customers.
CRM tools are very useful in holding events. Use these tools to schedule classes, advertise them to customers over text and email, manage registrations, and send out reminders. Having online registration available through your website is convenient for customers and increases the number of registrations you get.
Related Read: How To Teach a Class at Your Fabric Store: 6 Tips
Quilt shop CRM tools help business owners build loyalty among their customers. These features keep customers engaged with your brand and make your store their obvious choice for all of their fabric-related needs.
As you implement a CRM strategy at your business, start by setting up a loyalty program, using email and SMS marketing, compiling customer purchase histories, and requesting reviews. You can also host in-store events, so customers have great experiences in your quilt store.
Luckily, CRM features are often included in POS platforms. To reap the maximum benefits of both CRM and general POS features, you need a POS system designed specifically for your industry.
Like Sew is an all-in-one, cloud-based POS solution that’s equipped with general and quilt-specific retail features — including a wide array of CRM tools. With these features, you can manage your inventory and process payments, as well as communicate with your customers and run great events.
To see Like Sew for yourself, schedule a demo today!