Business directory for the Central Coast of NSW, Australia
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Just last week I bought some shirts for my business and when I received the receipt I was stunned. It was a plain piece of paper that had their business name, details, the purchase amount and then the other half of the page was blank.
What a huge marketing opportunity they’ve missed. This is from two aspects: 1. Cement their branding & image and 2. A marketing opportunity for increased sales.
It seems to happen time and time again where small businesses in particular miss simple but effective opportunities to continue the dialogue with their customers and improve their future sales potential. Lets look at the marketing opportunity in more detail and then we’ll look at the branding and image potential.
According to the ATO there are mandatory and recommended guidelines for information that must be present on a invoice and/or receipt. You should adhere to these guidelines as it’s the professional thing to do and helps you customers with their reporting. That said, you don’t have to limit the content to just this information. In fact, more often than not this information will barely fill half the page.
You now have a piece of paper with a large section of opportunity to communicate something about your business. Why waste this opportunity and say nothing at all. Like with all other areas of your marketing and advertising, it’s important to maximize any opportunity to speak to your customers. You certainly wouldn’t create an ad for the radio that only lasted 26 seconds when you’ve been given 30. So why waste the space of an invoice or receipt, which commands your customers attention.
Why not use that space to promote ancillary services or even other businesses. If the customer just bought the basic package, then have some information about upgrades they can make. If they bought a complicated product, include information on your support system. Even if it’s not about getting an extra sale, use that space to let them know about important things that help them get the most out of your product or service. Remind them to fill out their warranty certificate or let them know about some upcoming free seminars that your running.
I can’t stress enough how much of an opportunity this is for you business to upsell or cross sell your products. It’s far easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. Here’s why:
It may cost you a couple more cents for the extra printing but it will pay off in spades.
Creating the right image for your business is an important part of your marketing strategy. Do you have a premium service, a budget service, a technically advanced service, etc. The image your trying to portray will have an influence on everything that your customer comes in to contact with from your business. Whether it’s the shopfront, the type of service, the level of detail, etc.
This image even extends to the receipt or invoice. Imagine buying a Mercedes for a $100K+ and then being given a black and white receipt with the name of the dealer and a couple of numbers (what would that tell you about the dealer?). You might expect that having spend that kind of money that the paper was premium grade, had an embossed logo and was kept in a stylish presentation folder. Whilst this small thing isn’t going to make our break a relationship with a customer, when combined with other things it can have a significant effect.
When you create an invoice or receipt think about:
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