You lose customers out of indifference and wrong attitude. 68% of consumers declare that this is the reason why they stop buying from or use the services of the provider. For comparison, only 14% of customers leave a brand because of the attractiveness of competitors’ offers (Business Brief). It means that if you lose a customer, you should blame yourself – it’s your fault and in many situations could be avoided. How?
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1. What happens after sales?
A purchase isn’t the end of marketer’s work, but rather a beginning of a new phase, a moment that plays a crucial role in shaping customer experience. Your customer feels neglected if you just leave her to her own devices after buy or start bombarding her with bulk „one size fits all” newsletters. But how to show the customer that you still care?
– Send post-sales email with tips or simple thank you,
– Let her know where to find more information (your blog and social media channels) and who to contact in case of any problems. You could also make a list of most useful materials for beginners,
– Deliver personalized offers in all channels. Include complimentary or similar product (you can use SALESmanago Copernicus – Machine Learning & AI to identify what your customer will want next)
2. Excellent customer service
Simply. Not much room for automation or shortcuts here.
How to recognize an excellent customer service? It transforms frustration and crisis into delight and loyalty. It’s an employee who understands what customer feels, gives her enough attention, solves the issue and delivers a bonus to make up for the problem. Easier said than done.
We explored the problem in the post Love the customers you hate.
3. Dialogue vs. monologue
What your does audience think about your job? Do they like that product, that solution, new payment model, a new category of products or post? Maybe you don’t know. Maybe you’re too busy talking about what is important to you, and as long as you don’t get a negative comment on Facebook, you don’t see customers’ reactions (or care about it).
It’s not a rocket science to learn it. Viewed content, viewed (or clicked) products, time spent on the website… all these data are easy to find in your Marketing Automation Platform to help you discover how customers and leads use your website. You can also conduct a similar analysis for you mobile app (with APPmanago), you see which modules of an app are most used.
Apart from interpreting customers’ behavior on the website, simply ask them about how they feel and what they need.
4. Revise and test on regular basis
Your audience changes due to many reasons: the market develops dynamically, new trends and products emerge and fade away, and consumers are exposed to so many various stimuli… The Buyer Persona you developed at the beginning of your business might be outdated by now. So can be your email marketing routines: even if it took you months to find a perfect balance, in the meantime your audience might have changed.
The only solution is to never take your audience for granted. Test new solutions in each area of your business: from the images in your Facebook posts to the product range to new solutions in customer service.
5. You oversee dissatisfied customers
Picture yourself a group of angry, dissatisfied customers. And now realize that:
– Only 6% of them will complain directly to you,
– 31% will talk about bad shopping experience with family and friends
– 48% will avoid your store (Wharton School of Business research via nomi.com).
It shows that you probably have much more annoyed customers than you think. That’s why all post-sales actions are vital – they will help you spot unsatisfied customers and react quickly to cover over the bad impression. Use alerts! That way you can send a discount code immediately when somebody experiences delay or payment problem.
Marketing Automation platform will also help you identify a group of inactive customers and send a dedicated campaign to them and win almost lost users back.
6. Use segmentation and 1-to-1 messages
Customers feel ignored if you send them only mass messages. Show that you can see each of them as an individual!
Segment your contact list according to customers’ interests. It’s a good idea to use a welcome message to ask customers what kind of offers and content do they want to get.
Also, utilize your knowledge about customer history: past visits, viewed content and purchased items. Send abandoned cart rescue emails and display product related to previous buys on the banners. It doesn’t only boost sales, but also says: “We see what interests you and want to deliver it in the most convenient way available”.
To sum up
You lose customers as a result of your own mistake: neglecting them after the first purchase. So personalize your messages: use post-sales emails, tailor offers to individual recipient’s profile, test everything regularly and revise your knowledge about the customers
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