Yesterday, Constant Contact, a Massachusetts-based online marketing company, released the results of their second Technology Pulse survey. Approximately 1305 participants from various B2B and B2C organizations on the Constant Contact Small Biz Council provided insight on the top tools to earn new customers and keep existing customers engaged.
When it came to new customers, the top five methods as selected by respondents were: Daily Deals (53%), Internet ads (51%), Web site listings (38%), Social media ads (37%) and online coupons (29%). Although Constant Contact warned that items like daily deals must be specifically executed, or they may have a negative effect for the organization.
The top five tools to keep existing customers engaged, on the other hand, were: use of online survey tools (60%), loyalty programs/systems (56%), CRM systems (46%), e-mail marketing (45%) and customer management tools (38%). Respondents also weighed in on the tools that were good for both objectives. 77% of participants said that a well-designed and well-maintained website was the best tool to both keep customers and bring in new contacts. Blogs, social media and video hosting sites, such as Youtube, followed closely behind websites.
Joel Hughes, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development, Constant Contact, touched more on the growing need for SMBs to have a strong digital and social presence: “Eighty-two percent of small business owners have said their main source of new business is referrals, so it’s no surprise they’re taking a hard look at technologies that boost social visibility and feed the referral engine,” he said. “To succeed, small business owners have the difficult task of keeping pace with a rapidly evolving technology landscape. When you consider that they now see digital loyalty, which was not even on the horizon a few years ago, as the second most effective way to engage customers, I think they’re up to the challenge.”
For more information about Constant Contact, please visit the site here.
