It’s all well and good to make a sale but following up with customers can go a long way towards ensuring future sales by instilling brand awareness.
Consumers don’t want to fork over their money and then be dismissed. They appreciate a follow up email, phone call or postcard and will likely return to your business if they have had a rewarding shopping experience. Following up with customers isn’t just for businesses providing services – retail establishments can perform follow-ups as well. Here are five ways businesses of all types can perform an easy and beneficial follow-up that keeps your brand planted firmly in the forefront of a consumer’s mind.
1. The Email
While many may look at as email as impersonal, you can’t deny the convenience or reach it provides to businesses as a means to market to consumers. As long as a business has an organised database in place, it can be easy to not only track customer purchases, but also to follow up with them after they have made a purchase via a targeted email. With a bit of programming, the email can even address them by name within the body, and also ask them if they were happy with the items or services they purchased, also mentioned specifically within the body of the email.
Doing this not only removes some of the impersonality, but also serves to strengthen the purchase and instill the brand, increasing the chances that the customer will purchase from your company again.
Emails can also be used to let customers know about future sales, recommend products similar to what they have purchased, let them know about new products or new versions of products previously purchased or provide them with important news. A weekly email newsletter, with links to the business’ website or specific landing pages costs virtually nothing to produce, and can yield a large ROI.
2. The Postcard
A postcard works very well for businesses that provide a service, such as a dentist or doctor’s office, a veterinarian, an auto repair business or bank. The postcard can simply be a reminder to schedule an appointment, or a thank you for a customer’s business. A special postcard around the holidays is also nice, as well as one wishing a customer a happy birthday if you happen to have the information.
3. The Phone Call
Following up with customers via a phone call can be beneficial to both the consumer and the business, as it can yield a lot of information as to how to serve your customers better. It also lets your customers know that they have value to the business, and allows you to address any concerns they may have.
If customers have recently made a large purchase, you might want to call them a week or two afterwards to find out if they are happy with the purchase. This also holds true if you have recently performed a service. Making sure that the customers are happy should be your first priority. A second priority would be to gain valuable input from the customer regarding their expectations of the product or service, and if those expectations were met or exceeded.
If your business deals with customers placing orders on a somewhat regular basis, you don’t always have to simply wait for the customer to pick up the phone—call them and ask them how they are doing, initiate conversation and gain a friendly rapport, and then ask them if they would like to place any orders. It could very well be that they did want to place an order but haven’t gotten around to it yet, and if not, at least you’ve instilled a reminder.
4. The Incentive for Loyal Customers
Whether through email or direct mail, sending customers who have made previous purchases an incentive for future purchases is a great way to both increase sales and continue to improve brand awareness. Ideas for incentives include discounts, special sales offers, free samples, etc. You might also offer free shipping or a special price on a product bundle. Depending upon what type of business you are, the offers might vary, but there are bound to be a few different ways in which you can let your customers know that you appreciate their business.
5. The Survey
Surveys work best when used in conjunction with a customer incentive. You might have a survey distributed through direct mail, in which consumers can fill out the survey and send it back in return for a free product or a future discount. The same could be achieved through email. Another incentive for returning the survey could be for an entry into a contest.
The main purposes of the survey are twofold: following up with customers, and gaining valuable insight into the mind of your target market. The survey should ask questions regarding customer satisfaction and if there is anything the customer would like to see improved, but might also include demographic related questions as well, enabling you to gather more specifics about your target market. This will enable you to learn more about the demographic base of your consumers, so that you can market better in the future.
