Your job isn’t done once you complete the home improvement project and leave your customer’s home. While you’ve done the hard part, retaining the line of connection between your business and the homeowner continues to be an important aspect of growing your revenue over time. After all, keeping a customer is easier than starting over from scratch — if you do it right.

A marketing study reveals that 93% of people trust the recommendation of a friend or family member when seeking out goods and services, so by keeping that line of communication open, you increase the chances of a referral or repeat business from a former customer. In fact, a customer is 40% more likely to be sold to if they’ve already used you for a previous project.

Here are five ideas that you can implement now to help retain your customers once their renovation is over:

Keep in Contact

It’s important to keep the level of contact you have with a previous customer consistent, but not overly pushy. One great way to do this is to create a quarterly newsletter that includes important seasonal information regarding a renovation someone recently had done. Is there something that needs to be cleaned, maintained, or checked during a specific timeframe? For example, if you installed a pool, you can send quarterly emails about maintaining your pool through all the seasons. This is where it helps to have a robust content library in place as it provides non-salesy, educational information for your customer base.

Provide Referral Opportunities

Depending on the job, a customer may not use you for repeat business, such as a kitchen remodel. However, they do have friends or family who may be in need of your services in the future. Creating a promotion, such as a gift card to buy something for their new kitchen, is a great way to encourage referrals from previous customers. Keep this offer as evergreen as possible and send it out whenever your workload could use a little boost.

Be Active on Social Media

One of the easiest and most organic ways to maintain that connection is by posting on social media regularly. When you post informative, interesting content, the likelihood of it being shared increases, and so does the chance of a new lead seeing it. Document your jobs and post a before and after photo, tagging the homeowner (with their permission). High-quality photos and a beautiful end result are just what people online want to see.

Send Non-Business Related Communications

Everyone likes receiving a little surprise on their birthday or a holiday. Sending a card of gratitude on an important day has a little more of a personal touch than other communications, and it can help keep you top-of-mind and reinforce the great experience that a homeowner had working with you.

Give Sneak Peeks

Have a new product or service you’re going to be introducing? Give customers who have followed you on social media or have signed up for your email list a special sneak peek before it goes out to the general public. You could also give priority booking for customers who have already completed a job with you to encourage people to stay subscribed or continue to follow you.