If you want your customers to become loyal to your brand, one thing is certain: The initial sale is only the beginning of the relationship – you need to take the necessary steps to retain your customers. According to the Harvard Business Review, “acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.” So, it’s far easier to sell more products to current customers, which is why post-sale communication is a necessity. Here are some proven post-sale communication techniques that will help build stronger customer relationships.
Encourage Customer Feedback
Since customer feedback provides you with insight that you can use to improve your business, products and services, and overall customer experience, it’s important to encourage your customers to give you feedback. It offers the best way for you to measure customer satisfaction – you can understand their likes and dislikes, along with their needs and wants. With a customer feedback survey, for instance, you can listen to both your happy and unhappy customers, and use that feedback to ensure all your customers have a better experience, and continue wanting to do business with you.
Don’t underestimate the power of online reviews. Partners listings are a great resource to show prospective customers not only what you can do for them, but also what you have done for other customers before them, and their positive feedback. As a certified Salesforce Partner, Commercient is in the Salesforce AppExchange explaining how the SYNC app works, and what customers are already saying about it.
Feature Your Customers
Another great way to establish strong customer relationships is to feature your customers and their stories in your newsletter, on your website (case studies and testimonials), or on your social media channels. According to social media strategist and owner of bSocial Strategy, Brittany Serra, “By sharing a customer’s content, it serves a dual purpose.
“For starters, the customer feels loved because you featured their comment or picture,” Serra said. “Plus, studies show people prefer this kind of organic content. Customers are more apt to believe positive feedback from other customers rather than company insiders.”
Sharing your customers’ stories and supporting and introducing them to your other customers can go a long way towards building customer relationships, which will be long and mutually beneficial.
Encourage Referrals
Many of the best customers will come through word-of-mouth marketing. Don’t forget to establish referral programs that reward customers for sending you business. At Commercient, we love to encourage referrals. In fact, if you know someone who would benefit from using Commercient SYNC, IoT Pulse, or Sync2Pay, you can sign up for our Valued Referral Partner Program today.
Reward Customer Loyalty
Your customers will like you even more if you reward them for being great customers. This is simple, and easy to do – you give them a special discount, invitation to a special event, helpful insider tips, and much more. And, what’s great is it’s cost effective, and can go a long way toward establishing strong relationships. According to Entrepreneur.com, “repeat customers spend 67 percent more than new customers. So your most profitable customers are repeat customers.” Reward them.
Educate Your Customers Regularly
After your customers have purchased from you, it is also a good idea to continually educate them about the other things your business does, and how you might serve them. You have to keep delighting them and providing them with reasons to buy again. One way we like to engage our customers and educate them is through email marketing campaigns and weekly blog posts. It’s a great way to build your customers’ confidence in your expertise and retain them. The key is to make sure every method you use to educate your customers is full of helpful information that keeps them wanting more.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can build stronger relationships with your customers, become our partner today.
