Keeping Your Readers Coming Back – A Primer

Hey there, guys and gals.  It’s Mat Nastos back again with another bit of marketing advice for your indie comic book publishing adventures.  Today I’m going to talk about how to keep from losing your audience while you are making it grow.

Stan Lee is a genius.  Everyone in the comic book industry knows it.  Unfortunately, most people don’t realize his true genius lies outside of having created Spider-man, the Hulk, the X-men and the Marvel Universe itself.  The real force behind the genius of Stan Lee was that he knew the reason why most businesses lose customers. 

I know what you’re saying to yourself right now.  You’re saying, What in the hell are you talking about, Mat, and what on Earth does it have to do with drawing the Wolverine?”  Truth be told, it has absolutely nothing to do with drawing the Wolverine and absolutely everything to do with why a lot of comic book publishers lose sales after their first issue and, eventually, cancel their comics.

The major reason why comic book publishers (and businesses in general) lose business is because of customer apathy.  In other words, most comic book publishers are chasing away customers by ignoring them after the initial sale.  Marketing experts estimate that over 65 percent of all business lost in the US is from apathy after the sale.  And even back at the beginning of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee knew this. 

…most comic book publishers are chasing away customers by ignoring them after the initial sale.

You see, even back in the early 60s, Stan Lee knew that selling product to a new customer costs 10 times more than selling to an existing customer.  Realizing this, he knew that continuing to sell and resell to his existing audience was as important as selling books to new customers (and was considerably cheaper).  In present day terminology, he knew that keeping his current email list active with new marketing was just as important as the marketing dollars spent on reaching new customers. 

…selling product to a new customer costs 10 times more than selling to an existing customer.

This is point where I realize a few of you, my readers, are going to jump up with your hands in the air and yell “Wait a minute!  You’ve been telling us the whole time that finding new readership is the only way for the industry to survive and relying on current readership is a chump’s game.”  To that group I say, “Sit down and shaddup!”  You’ve missed the point.  What I’m talking about here is making sure not to ignore the readership you’ve developed and the email list you’ve developed (or should have developed).  One of the absolute dumbest things you can do is to ignore someone who has already spent money on your product or allow them to forget about you.  The reason for this, as I just mentioned, is because your conversion rate (your SALE rate) is ten times higher with a previous customer than with a potential new customer. 

With that sort of conversion rate a comic book publisher would be foolish to allow apathy to develop in their current customer base.

How to Combat Customer Apathy?

So, what can a comic book publisher do in order to keep customer apathy levels to a minimum?  The key is to develop a follow-up strategy along with your regular marketing strategies.  The follow-up marketing strategy you develop will dictate how you will follow-up with your current customer base and how often you’ll do it.  This strategy should become your guide for helping to avoid a decrease in your customer base and, more importantly, a decrease in your sales numbers.  The thing to remember is that this follow-up strategy should become a part of your day-to-day business activities.  When you wake up every day you should not only be working on getting new customers but also on how to keep your current ones.

I know, it sounds like a lot of work, and it can be, but this additional work is what it takes to make enough money to publish comic books for a living instead of just working at a comic book store.  In the old days, Stan Lee used everything from his Bullpen Bulletins to the Merry Marvel Marching Society to keep his readership strong and active.  In the 21st century we use email.  Either way, we’re doing the same job: combating customer apathy.

Stan Lee used everything from his Bullpen Bulletins to the Merry Marvel Marching Society to keep his readership strong and active.

Now, the first thing a comic book publisher should do after making a sale is to send the customer a thank you message.  This very simple thing can make the difference between a return sale and a lost customer.  As a comic book publisher, when was the last time you sent out a follow-up thank you note to a customer?  From now on, that thank you note should be a permanent part of you marketing arsenal.  Have either your shopping cart software or your email system set up to send out an automatic email to a customer once they make a purchase.  Thanks to modern technology this is an incredibly simple thing to do and most customers have been trained by companies like Amazon.com to expect it.

This thank you email is also a great place to offer customers an incentive for a return sale — offer $5 off their next order, a free poster or whatever.  If you don’t go out of your way to GIVE them a reason to buy again then they won’t have a reason to buy again.  Make sure to personalize the email so the customer begins to relate to you on a more human and less business level.  Give them a “face” to go along with the name of your company. 

A smart comic book publisher will follow-up (there’s that phrase again) with their customer again after 30 days to make sure everything went ok with the sale and to see if the customer has any questions, comments or problems.  This note allows you to continue to develop a relationship with your customer, and developing those relationships is going to be the key to your survival as a business. 

The 30-day follow-up email gives you another opportunity to offer a return incentive to your customer…to give them another reason to buy from you while your company and your product is fresh in their memory.  10% off or free shipping on their next order are great little things to toss in — or, a free artist sketch or signed & numbered upgrade edition work well.

Develop and maintain the relationship

90-Day Follow-up: Continue to follow-up and maintain that new relationship.  Send another email after 90 days to announce any new products you have coming out.  This is especially affective if the new product is related to the customer’s original purchase — perhaps a new issue is being released. 

Six-Month Follow-Up:  From there, you should follow-up after 6 months to announce a sale (sure, this sale may only be offered to those receiving the email, but that is fine).  Give the customer a deal on purchasing additional back issues of the title they ordered, or give them a sale on a related title or book they might be interested in.  Developing this sale in a personal way for the customer to relate to or identify with.  A great piece to add on to the 6 month email is to offer a “refer it” program to the customer.  Give them a chance to send out a “check this out” notice to three of their friends and give them an additional 5% off their next purchase for sending out that notice. 

A 9 month follow-up is going to be very similar to your 90-day follow-up.  Detail any new offerings you have online and discuss any new features or services you now have.  I also like to give “exclusive” information or deals at this point — talk about a “huge” sale coming up or give behind-the-scenes information on upcoming projects.  A sketchbook, creator-interviews and the like are all great.  This makes the customer feel connected and closer to you because of this “exclusive” relationship they have with your company.

The one year follow-up is an opportunity a lot of business forget or miss out on.  This is your chance to send the customer a “one year anniversary of your first sale” message.  Thank them for their continued support and offer them the biggest discount so far.  If the customer hasn’t purchased anything in the year, go as far as to offer them a free copy of the latest issue of your comics.  In marketing this is called a “loss leader” and can be a great way to turn an old customer into a new one.  The theme behind the one year follow-up is thanks and appreciation for the customer.  Let them know their business means a lot to you.

Continuing the Follow-Ups

From there I’ve found the best tactic for a small press comic book publisher is to continue to follow-up with the customer every 3 months.  Any more than that and your messages can begin to feel like SPAM, any less and you run the risk of the customer forgetting you and your comics.  Continue to announce new products and services, continue to offer discounts and special sales for return customers, and continue to let your customer know you appreciate them.  Solidify the relationship and you’ll build an incredible bond with your customers. 

Doing this and developing your follow-up marketing strategy will turn a one-time customer into someone that could wind up buying three or four times a year and who refers your comic books to three or four of their friends.  With luck, you’ll have turned a single sale into four sales or more all at the cost of a few free emails.

In the end, ignoring your customers may cost you more than keeping them.

-Mat Nastos, Comic Book Marketing dot Com
http://www.ComicBookMarketing.com

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