We have been talking about the importance of having an up to date contact information in Xero over the last few months. Detailing the existing features of Xero that link into these contacts like Gmail and Office365 Integrations. As well as features such as Batch Payments that only work when your contacts bank details are correct. 

It's surprising though how many people using Xero only use a fraction of the features. Smart Lists is another feature we see very few people using. 

Having a good understanding of your customers is so important for small businesses. It's so much easier (and cheaper) to sell to existing customers, yet many small businesses don't utilise the information they have in Xero to make these sales easier. 

Smart Lists are designed to do just this. They will show you what your customers have purchased, how much they have spent (in any given timeframe), the last time they purchased from you, your VIP clients and where they are located. 

Check out the video below to see what other smart lists you can create. 

Smart Lists will certainly help you learn more about your existing customer base. Here are some reports to look at to get you started:

Do you have any customers who have not purchased anything from you in the last 12 months? 

Do you have any customers who have not purchased a specific item from you in the last 12 months? Ie if you are web developer you might want to search on any customer who has not been invoiced the Hosting Item in the last 12 months. 

Who are your top 10 customers by amount spent with you over the last 12 months? Do these differ if we look at purchases over the last 2 years?

As always don't be afraid to play around with the reports and data you can look at. The more knowledgeable you are about your customers the better decisions you will make. 

It's great to look at the above (+ many more) but the real magic happens when you actually do something with the data. You could contact anyone who hasn't purchased from you within the last 12 months and let them know you are still around. Or perhaps you want to do a special package, like invite to an event for your customers who have purchased something in the last 12 months to reward them. Or maybe you want to add your top 10 clients by money spent to your VIP list. Or you can find out which clients you haven't invoiced for specific things. 

So go ahead, jump into Xero, click on contacts and start making some Smart Lists. We would love to know your favourites!