Overview
Congrats, You just made a sale! That’s great, but we know that as a business owner, you are always looking to find your next customer. Afterall, you want your business to thrive, right? While most customers visit a website to make one-time purchases, constantly looking to source new leads can be detrimental to your marketing budget. In fact, new customer acquisition is 5X more expensive than customer retention.
In the fiercely competitive landscape of modern business, acquiring new customers is essential, but retaining and nurturing those customers over the long term is equally critical. To build lasting relationships with your audience and foster brand loyalty, it’s crucial to understand the intricate journey customers embark upon from the first interaction to becoming devoted advocates. This understanding is made possible through the powerful process of customer lifecycle mapping.
Keeping ex-customers in the loop is even more critical for service-based businesses where they’ll be needing your service at regular intervals of time: like a dental clinic, commercial floor cleaning service, seasonal maintenance and more.Â
So, while you did make a sale, your job isn’t done just yet. Sales process is cyclical. Post-purchase your customer don’t always exit the sales cycle. In fact, they enter a new phase where they can be re-engaged with new offers. By nurturing your existing customers with valuable–relevant– content, you will be able to continue reaping significant profits from the old customers.
So how do you effectively boost retention, and convert one-time buyers into repeat customers for years to come? Emails.Â
Join us on this enlightening journey as we unveil the secrets to successful customer lifecycle mapping. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer seeking to refine your customer engagement strategies or a business owner ready to elevate your customer experience, our aim is to provide you with the knowledge and actionable insights needed to navigate the customer lifecycle confidently.
Let’s embark on this transformative exploration together and unlock the pathway to lasting customer loyalty and business success.
Thank them for their purchase
This type of email should be triggered immediately after purchase. The little window of time that instantly follows the purchase is extremely valuable for bonding. Sending a ‘Thank You’ email at this time is the simplest way to show the customers that you genuinely appreciate their business. The most remarkable fact about this type of email is its incredibly high open-rate– that’s right; thank you emails have a 67% average open rate.Â
“To increase the relevance of the email, you can even include important order information such as purchase receipt, proposed delivery date, and method of contact should they have questions.”
Michael Jenkins
Every customer expects at least one email from brands immediately after making a purchase. So take advantage of their readiness and show them your appreciation.Â
Follow-up and request feedback
This email should be sent once the order has been delivered. In the follow up message, remind them of their recent purchase. Ask them if there’s anything they need help with in regards to their purchase. In this email, you can include relevant links to resources pertaining to how to make the best use of the product. You can also share links to your return policy or FAQ section. At this stage, making yourself available to your customers will also reduce the chances of being asked for a refund.
Then there’s the aspect of requesting feedback. Asking customers about their experience with the product and your brand shows humility. It also shows the customer that you value their opinion, and that they’re an integral part of your business growth.
Delight them with discounts
Limited time discounts are super-effective incentives to keep your customers coming back. They are also a fun way to boost customer loyalty, because a discount is very similar to an appreciation token, and it shows that you value your customers and that you want to provide a better service to them. Discounts also appease the rational side of their brain with lower prices. And, by putting an expiration date on your discount you urge them to take action now.
You can even attach more conditions to your discount code. One option is to have them share your brand with their friends and families. Chances are that many of your customers have a very loyal or large following on social media. So by offering them an incentive, you are encouraging them to endorse your product, which increases the likelihood of bringing in new business, while retaining the old ones.Â
Upsell and cross-sell emails
Up-selling and cross-selling are strategies that every business must adopt to increase their average order value. All the big ecommerce giants leverage these techniques to maximize their revenue from repeat customers. Did you know that Amazon’s recommendations account for 35% of its revenue?Â
Cross-selling is a technique where you recommend products that can act as a complementary item to their initial purchase.
An upsell, on the other hand, is the classic , “ would you like fries with that?. This strategy works by convincing the customer to purchase items that are of a higher price and belong to the same category. Â
By sending follow-up emails with product recommendations based on their purchase history, you increase the likelihood of conversion. That’s because you’re only recommending products that are similar to the ones they have purchased before.Â
Email is a powerful tool that isn’t limited to warming up fresh leads into customers. It’s also powerful in keeping all the former customers engaged with your brand. If you are a business owner and that’s not leveraging the amazing benefits of post-purchase emails, you might be leaving thousands of dollars in new sales for your competition to grab. Contact to our marketing companies in Melbourne, Australia to learn more tricks that you can use to retain your customers.
