Making a purchase nowadays – regarding of what it is - is rarely as simple as finding something and buying it. There is thought that goes into that purchase and myriad influencing reasons behind the decision to buy. For example, you might read online reviews, check out the seller’s website and ask friends etc.
While making that sale is key to a business, the relationship with a customer should never end there. In a perfect world, you want that person to return and buy again, as well as telling their family and friends about that product and, more importantly, the fantastic service they received.
But, as a business, you can’t simply rely on the fact that somebody likes your product to influence the fact that they might return to buy again. Depending on what the product is you should give your customer everything they need to maintain it and, ideally through your website, give them the tools to let you know when they need some element of customer service support.
According to recent research by Salesforce, 80% of customers now consider their experience with a company to be as important as its products. Therefore, give clients a great experience; give them a chance to evaluate your service and perhaps assign them a contact at your firm that they can get in touch with easily if they do have any questions.
While your website should be aimed at attracting new business, it should also feel accessible to existing customers, making them feel valued and appreciated.
Organisations need to understand a customer’s journey and be ready to support them at every stage of that journey until they, hopefully, return to buy something else. If a customer is mid-way through their buying journey, they might not be talking to you regularly but instead they could still be reading your emails or dipping into your social media. In any case, you still want them to feel engaged with your business.
It’s key to keep monitoring when an existing customer might want to buy again. This could come in the form of a positive buying signal, such as a phone call asking for prices. Alternatively, businesses will have a pretty good idea when somebody might – looking at statistics – be in the market to buy again. If a customer typically buys a new car every two or three years, then it’s worth sending over details of new car deals just ahead of that time. If you sent new car information over to a new customer six months after a purchase, it could seem pushy.
Customers always want to feel treated as individuals, so personalisation is key. We are all used to receiving notifications from businesses such as Amazon, based on our buying habits. This happens naturally in local shops, where owners start to understand loyal customers and will point them towards new products they might like.
If businesses map where somebody is on their customer journey, they can make sure they create personalised experiences at every opportunity.
Talk to us at Lake Solutions if you want to know how we can help your support customers on their buying journey.