How This Farm Increased Their Customer Base by 171%
Owning your customer base is essential for any Farm business. When Farmers sell through third-party channels (e.g., Crowd Cow or MarketWagon), they own the customer relationship, not the Farmer. As a result, a Farmer has no ability to communicate, influence, and upsell more Farm products. More importantly, your Farm products are reduced to a commodity, and Brand loyalty does not accrue to your Farm.
To grow your Farm sales, scale your operations, and build a more resilient base of business, you must be in charge of your customer relationships directly. How? By selling direct-to-market and consistently engaging your buyers in every online and in-person interaction. This builds loyalty to your Farm Brand and grows your business.
Farmers across the country have developed tactics to grow their business by expanding their customer base and offering a convenient shopping experience. Successful Farmers have experienced up to 171% lift in new customers in less than 12 months by implementing a few best practices. Here are their tactics:
24/7 Access to Farm Products
Offering a convenient self-serve ordering option allows customers to access your Farm products anytime, anywhere. As only 1% of Americans regularly attend the farmer’s market, an online store allows Farmers to access more customers more frequently.
An online presence is proven to give Farmers increased revenue outcomes, especially when Farmers direct in-person customers to shop online at their convenience. Inclement weather and family commitments can dramatically impact Farmer’s market attendance. When the market is closed, but you have an online store, your Farm is open to accept orders anytime, eliminating the worry of weekend-only sales at the market. Farmers who leverage both online and in-person channels to reach customers experience more consistent orders and increased revenue predictability.
A Commitment to Growing an Email List
To keep your Farm top of mind, it’s essential to always collect customer emails. Why? Because email is the only channel Farmers can reach customers directly in a place they visit every day – their inbox! By sending consistent order reminders and monthly newsletters, you’ll keep buyers updated on what’s available from your Farm. At the markets, leverage a QR code to quickly gather emails or use a clipboard and a sign-up sheet posted in your neighborhood businesses (coffee stores and gyms), local churches, schools, and community centers.
One Farmer offers an email incentive to employees, giving $1 for every verified email collected. Knowing a single email can pay dividends, email has proven to increase Farm orders by +30% and triple their average order size!
Read: 6 Tactics To Grow Your Farm's Mail List (And Increase Sales)
Listen: Tom’s Tactics to Doubling Sales
Lock-In Purchase Commitments with Subscriptions
When consumers look to access Farm products online, they often choose to purchase from third-party box programs because of the convenience of Subscriptions. It is essential that your Farm offers a convenient purchasing experience through email, social media, your website, and in-person at markets.
The biggest value to offer customers are Subscriptions to your most popular Farm products. When customers can subscribe, 90% will choose Farmer-recommended Subscriptions, enjoying the ease of a single-purchase with the benefit of accessing your products regularly.
Monthly Meat Box Subscriptions, CSA Produce Subscriptions, and Dairy Box Subscriptions are convenient for buyers and will help your Farm lock-in recurring monthly revenue. To appeal to a variety of customer needs, it's essential to offer different Subscription box sizes as ⅓ of Americans live by themselves, ⅓ live with 2-3 people, and ⅓ live with 4+ people.
Implement a Direct Delivery Service
Farms that are adopting a delivery model are winning. In fact, 25% of Americans regularly get their groceries delivered to their front door rather than going to the store. Offering a delivery service meets buyers' expectations of convenience and can be the tipping point of why they choose to order from your Farm (or not).
The most successful Farms start by delivering to 1-2 zip codes 1-2x per month then scale when demand increases. 60% of Farmers charge a delivery fee of $5 or more to cover the cost of their time and their mileage (even grocery delivery from Whole Foods Market via Amazon Prime costs $9.95 per order – there’s no such thing as free delivery anymore!). More buyers will opt-in to purchase from your Farm when they know items will be delivered to their doorstep. For one Farm, scaling their delivery service led to a 125% increase in revenue in 12 months.
Read: Tactics that 3 Farms Implemented to Grow to $100k in 1 Year
Watch: Farm Innovator Series: Scale Your Farm Business with Delivery & Subscriptions
When Farmers offer a convenient ordering experience for customers paired with a direct delivery service, they create a loyal and expansive customer base. By prioritizing efforts to expand your customer reach (online and in-person), your Farm can create a thriving business model that will delight buyers and satisfy customers' expectations of convenience.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution for Farmers to grow and manage their business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.