“There is place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers – after the sale.”
Harvey MacKay
A sale is not the endpoint. Infact, it is the beginning of an everlasting relationship with your customers. Your customers go through a variety of emotions when they make a purchase and expecting a good after sale service is one of them. Most businesses do not care much about their post purchase strategy as they underestimate the importance of making an impact and establishing a long lasting relationship with their customers. Understanding and analysing how your customers feel after making a purchase is an important step that can ensure retention of current customers and acquisition of potential customers.
Building a factor of trust among your customers is key to increase sales and build an unforgettable brand reputation. Marketers can use the customer’s purchase history data to understand the psychology behind consumer behaviour and their expectations from the brand in future. Post-purchase marketing strategies are important when it comes to creating a loyal customer base as it eventually leads to better customer relationships.
A customer journey starts from the initial point of contact between the customer and a business’ products and services. From here on, it is the responsibility of your business to provide a positive experience and wholesome support to their customers. It is a widely believed fact that retaining a customer is more cost-effective and efficient than acquiring a potential customer. There are a lot of researches that show that it is 5 times more expensive to get a new customer than retaining and serving an existing one. According to a research report by Bain and Company, increasing customer retention rate by just 55a year can help businesses in raising profits by at least 25%.
Treat your customers right even after the purchase is done
When it comes to customer service, there are mainly three stages where customer experience is of paramount importance – pre-purchase, during purchase and post-purchase. Businesses need to understand that there is so much more to a customer-business relationship than just the exchange of products, services and money.
It is extremely crucial for businesses to analyse and fulfill their potential customers’ post-purchase needs as that lays the foundation of their continued association in future. When you care about your customers, they will see it and know that you have their best interests in your heart. Some methods of creating a thoughtful post-purchase marketing strategy are as follows:
Enhancing customer experience by customized services
Providing customized services that suit the diverse needs of various customers is the most important and useful step to improve the whole post-purchase customer experience. By personalising consumer experiences, businesses can easily diversify delivery options based on real-time insights and data about their preferences.
Providing timely information
There is a lot of information that customers do not know even after purchasing a product or service. It is the responsibility of a business to provide timely and accurate information to customers in order to maintain a transparent and seamless communication process.
Product care tips and correct usage
Being the designer of the product, a business would know the exact workings and maintenance process of the product or service. But first-time users such as the customers need to be made aware of the handling of the product so that they can use it with ease. Providing user manuals, demo guides or tips can help businesses in enhancing the post-purchase customer experience.
Offer future discount deals and coupons
It does not matter where the customer comes from or what suits their taste. Everyone loves a good discount. When businesses offer discount coupons or additional deals on their products and services, the customer is naturally inclined to return to them for future shopping and the likelihood of them buying from you increases over time.
Ask for reviews from customers
It is beneficial for businesses to take regular reviews and feedback from their customers from time to time. You must let your customers know that their views and suggestions are valued and appreciated.This can help businesses improve their overall processes and give better results next time.
Many marketers believe that creating a post-purchase customer experience strategy is insignificant and would bear no or little results. But in a time when ensuring a smooth and flawless customer service is key to business growth, an effective marketing strategy to assist customers even after the sale is completed is as important as making the sale in the first place. It is often said that a happy customer is a business’ biggest source of advertisement. So the next time you see a customer returning to you for another purchase, just know that your post-purchase marketing efforts have paid off.