Simply put, there are only two ways of increasing sales:

1. Get MORE people to buy your product (increase width of consumption).
2. Get CURRENT USERS to consume more of your product (increase depth of consumption).

I find that almost all marketers tend to concentrate their energies and resources on the first category; their marketing or acquisition programmes are geared towards getting new consumers. And this fascination for new users can go to such an extent that many companies and brands tend to ignore their loyalists. Take magazines, for example; they will come out with attractive schemes to get people to subscribe to their publications. But how does all this make the existing users feel? Pretty miffed, I would think. Look at many service industries including ad agencies. They will go aggressively for new clients without critically analysing if they are providing outstanding service to their existing clients. Yet, as we all know, it is much easier to hold on to loyalists than go after new users. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Of course, I am not saying that one shouldn’t go after non-users – all I am saying is that one should never neglect current users. In fact, it would be nice if companies spent some quality time figuring out how to reward or engage with current users periodically.

Visual courtesy : https://www.flickr.com/photos/martijndevalk/