The end of a customer lifecycle is typically the point where many customers drop off. Even though the sale has completed, the customer journey shouldn’t grind to a halt. When communication slows down, brand familiarity and opportunity for repurchase decreases, making this point in the consumer journey crucial.
Every product or service has a lifecycle, some longer than others, however all businesses need to implement strategies to continue building sales as well as developing relationships between the brand and consumer. Here’s a few of these strategies to keep your sales wheel turning.
Reviews
We’ve spoken about reviews in the past and there’s a good reason why. This avenue is perfect for generating new customers and increasing sales conversions. Enabling reviews of your product or service will result in a comfortable space created for future customers and encourage their purchase decisions.
Inviting customers to complete reviews online also provides a secure space to provide honest feedback that you can control and avoids customers negatively posting on your social media pages.
Referrals
Asking your customers to refer friends who might be interested in your brand is an easy way to get new clients through the door. Statistics show that new customers are more likely to come on board after a friend has referred them. Try offering an incentive to both the referrer and referee is a sure-fire way to get them over the line.
Contract Information
If your business has contractual agreements with clients, get ahead of the game and continue the purchase cycle before it even finishes. By sending emails with contract dates and information about re-signing, you are closing the gap between the contract end date and the restart date. Decreasing this lag time will avoid a high customer turnover and also provides the opportunity to educate and upsell customers with alternate product or service options. This will also help you in ensuring continuity of service for the client so there’s no drop off.
Account Updates
Asking subscribers to update their details is a strategic way to continue relationship building while also gaining additional data to send more targeted campaigns in the future. You could even include the option for subscribers to redefine their email preferences. This opens opportunities to filter out disinterested subscribers, further targeting your audience, or gaining additional subscribers to grow your awareness and revenue.
Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs have been around for years, from frequent flyer points to ‘Your 5th coffee free’ stamp cards, but they are fast becoming a commonly used rewards system by eCommerce companies. You’re more likely to return if you know at some point there is a discount or free offer involved and the ability to only spend accrued points within the businesses ecosystem helps reinforce the value of those points – they can’t take them elsewhere. That behaviour process is what makes loyalty programs effective at increasing return visitors and encouraging repeat sales. Get crafty and let customers know how many points they gained after their last purchase and what those points can get them. This will get their mind ticking on what they can purchase next time.
Educational Content
If your products or services have a long lifetime, sending customers educational content post-sale will keep your brand front of mind. It will also provide the opportunity to offer suggestions to improve the product with the purchase of other accessories.
The most popular types of educational content to send are ‘How-to’ guides and tips for getting the most out of your product. These types of content offer additional value after the sale has taken place, whilst also making the customer feel valued as the service continues post-sale.
Start your New Year with a bang and implement these strategic tools to continue the purchase cycle. Gaining new subscribers, additional subscriber data or giving the customer an excuse to jump back into your site fits perfectly back into the research phase to keep the wheels turning.
Not sure where to start? Let us know! We’re the Lifecycle Marketing Experts!