Take a look at these tips to help build your business’s revenue.

Business owners face many demands on their time and resources. COVID-19 and revenue fluctuations can create new challenges, even if you’ve drastically cut costs. Building revenue now may give your cash flow some breathing room. Try these strategies to get more money coming in the door now so you can delight your customers.

Focus on repeat business. If you’ve been in business any length of time, you likely have a following of loyal customers. Learning about and meeting their evolving needs is the best way to keep those strong relationships you’ve worked so hard to build. Bonus: Because they already love your business, they’re likely to do more business with your brand. A famous Harvard Business School study found that 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits between 25% and 95%, depending on the industry1. 93% Of customers surveyed are more likely to buy again from companies with good customer service2. TAKEAWAY Give customers a great experience every time they interact with your company by focusing on their needs. Delight them with loyalty rewards, make packaging attractive and easy to open and communicate regularly to ensure they’re happy.
Increase the average transaction. Another method of increasing revenue is boosting customers’ average spend each time they buy. Even a small increase across many transactions can mean significantly more revenue for your business. At the same time, you can help your customers see the benefit of changing their purchasing habits to give them greater convenience and cost-savings. $54.14 is the average transaction size of SMB retailers with an average transaction size of 2.4 items 3. 58% of customers will add items to an ecommerce cart to qualify for free shipping 4. Takeaway: ncentives like loyalty rewards or large order discounts can promote repeat or volume business. Free shipping order thresholds can also help boost transaction size. If appropriate, consider services like delivery, repair or maintenance for an additional fee.
Encourage customer feedback and referrals Sometimes, you could be losing business without even realizing it. You pride yourself on excellence, but perhaps a customer’s last order wasn’t quite right, and they never told you. Or maybe they love the work you do, but it doesn’t occur to them to refer others. Sometimes, landing more business is just a matter of communication. 50% Of consumers have left a brand for one that is better at meeting their needs8 69% The average number of online shopping carts that are abandoned before completing the sale7

1 Harvard Business School, https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-economics-of-e-loyalty. 
2 HubSpot/May 2018 “The Hard Truth about Customer Acquisition Costs and How Your Customers Can Save You.” https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-acquisition-study?hubs_signup-url=blog.hubspot.com%2Fservice%2Fcustomer-loyalty-statistics&hubs_signup-cta=null. 
3 Vend, “Retail Benchmarks Report 2019”: https://corp.vendcdn.com/Vend-Files/Vends-Retail-Benchmarks-Guide-2019.pdf. 
4 UPS, “Pulse of the Online Shopper,” 2014. https://www.ups.com/media/en/2014-UPS-Pulse-of-the-Online-Shopper.pdf. 
5 New York University, Latest Research From NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business and IRI Shows That Sustainability Is Surviving COVID-19 https://www.iriworldwide.com/en-us/news/press-releases/latest-research-from-nyu-stern-center-for-sustaina Deloitte, “The Future is Coming, but Still One Day at a Time,” 2020: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/6513_Future-of-retail/DI_The-future-is-coming.pdf. 
6 Baymard Institute: https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate. 
7 InMoment, “Earning and Destroying Customer Loyalty,” October 2018: https://inmoment.wpengine.com/blog/earning-and-destroying-customer-loyalty-retail-cx-trends-you-need-to-know.

This article is for informational purposes. It is not designed or intended to provide financial, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice since such advice always requires consideration of individual circumstances. Please consult with the professionals of your choice to discuss your situation.