Look after the customers you win and get even more sales
Treating your new found customers as well as your prospects is the next step in improving your sales and increasing your profits.Now you have acquired your new customer it’s just as important to treat them just as well as you would for any potential new customer. Making them feel extra special and cherished as part of the post sales process is one of the fundamental reasons why the best online businesses succeed.
Any new customers you win as a result of the work you put into converting them have been impressed by your hard work so you have to live up to their expectations and nurture the new relationship to it’s fullest. You can nurture this in several ways, by upselling, cross selling and gaining new customers by way of recommendation. So how is this achieved?
Welcome then enthusiatically and show them your word is your bond.
When you first obtain an order from your website, acknowledge and welcome your customer, thanking them for their order with a well written email. In the case of ecommerce websites this can be done to automatically send on receipt of their order. Don’t just give a simple thank you – provide them with helpful advice on the product, helpful tips on it’s use or provide positive experiences and testimonials from other customers who have bought the same product.
If you don’t sell products online and sell services then the same rules apply. Once they have ordered a service from you make a point of sending them tips on what to expect, positive experiences from other customers or explain the timescales when the service will start and finish.
In either case, any helpful, welcoming information you send makes them feel cherished and will ost often result in a word of moth recommendation or an email recommending your services and products.
Survey your customers on performance or quality of products and services.
Invite your new customers to complete a survey of how well your products or services performed. One or two questions work well. After you complete your survey make a point of communicating back the results – this shows you listened and made any improvements where neccessary. Additional sales from your existing customers may result.
Incentivise referrals
Offer your new customers an incentive for referring your products and services to other companies. Be it a discount off their next purchase or service offering. This works in both B2C and B2B. We often hear from clients in B2B where they have recommended a service abd received discounts or finders fees as a result.
Customer forums
Customer forums can be a great way to up sell new products and services. Build communties around products. Provide free updates or tips for use, applications etc.
Offer exclusive pricing on new product lines
Give your customers exclusive discounts on new product or service lines. Encourage extra incentives for referrals and allow affiliate rewards.
There are many ways to optimise after sales and we will post more innovative techniques here soon so check back often.
