By Kristina Mills

That’s a question I get asked quite often. The answer to that question depends on what your business sells.  If you sell “big ticket” items sending your customers a weekly letter in the mail or calling them weekly is probably a little too much. If, on the other hand, you are a retailer and your customers purchase from you on a weekly or monthly basis, it’s really important that you communicate with them frequently.

A general rule of thumb is to communicate with your customers in some way, at least once a month. At the very least, have a monthly e-newsletter that gives your customers informative tips on how to get the most from the product or service they bought from you.

Then - before the start of key buying periods it’s obviously important to send out promotional offers – stocktake sale announcements, New Year offers, Valentines specials and that sort of thing.

And - at other important calendar dates like Christmas, Easter, Spring, Birthdays send special greeting letters or cards wishing them the best during these holiday seasons.

You’ll also want to send customers communications at certain anniversaries like 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after they purchased.

When you write to customers make sure you use a combination of snail mail, email and telephone communication.

Also mix up the type of communication you have. For instance, don’t only send out sales letters asking customers to buy again.

More information on how to set up a client communications schedule can be found in our College of Copywriting home study courses. For more information visit http://www.collegeofcopywriting.com