Appreciate Your Customers This Valentine’s Day

Ah, yes, February! It’s that time of the year where couples get overly romantic, buying gifts and assorted plant life for one another, trying to impress each other in attempts to proclaim their love and affection.

To merchants, this is yet another opportunity to show your appreciation to your customers. Especially those of the fairer sex. Take the time to APPRECIATE your CUSTOMERS with simple gestures and you will reap the rewards soon enough. Not only will you end up retaining a customer, you may even get new ones once word-of-mouth of your thoughtfulness spreads.

It does not take much to say thank you to a valued customer. You could send a physical Valentine’s card with discount voucher from your store enclosed. You could also enclose a gift voucher for a couple of drinks at a local coffee house. If your store sells cosmetics or beauty products, send them some free samples. For those who are selling toys, send them a small soft toy with a personal note.

For your most valued customer, you could choose to send a PERSONALIZED gift so that they really know that you appreciate them. Send them some chocolates with a personal thank you note that includes your store’s name, logo and address. Don’t get all stressed out if they arrive slightly after Valentine’s Day. A simple Valentine’s Day greeting card or gift – here at InstanteStore, we love chocolates (hint) – would also brighten up anyone’s day.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

Money in Tweets? 80 Percent Use Twitter For Online Businesses

There was a survey recently that highlights something that may be a little surprising: the real reason people use Twitter is for business, rather than social purposes. For some time now, many online marketers have been pushing the use of Twitter for business. More than eight in 10 people tweet for business. If 80 percent of people are using Twitter to increase brand awareness and their bottom line, then businesses that have yet to embrace tweeting are falling behind their competition, and potentially losing out on possible revenue as well.

Twitter lets you write and read messages of up to 140 characters. Twitter messages are usually public, and Twitter is a recipient-driven information network, so you decide what sort of messages you want to receive. You can also receive Twitter messages, or tweets, equally well from your desktop or your mobile phone.

So why is everyone all a-twitter about Twitter? What exactly does Twitter offer online businesses? … (more…)