Your campaign was a huge success but now what? Michael Barnard has some ideas on how to take advantage of the ‘moneymoon’ period to drive customer loyalty.

Congratulations, your latest campaign was a success – you attracted new customers. It’s a coup for the business, you get a pat on the back, job well done. Now what? Probably onto the next campaign, right?

According to Oracle, 82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper than acquisition. Yet despite this spend the majority of their efforts focus on acquiring customers, thinking that this alone will grow their business. This however, is not the case. The customer risks becoming yet another number in the email list.

So, what is the moneymoon period? How do you take appropriate advantage of the customers current mindset to drive customer loyalty? Here are our thoughts on what the path to re-purchase customer journey should look like.

 

The moneymoon period

A customer has recently bought a product or service from you. Chances are they’re feeling positive about your brand and their overall experience with you. We refer to this as ‘the moneymoon period’.

What you do next is crucial; don’t allow buyers remorse to set in by delivering a poor post-purchase experience.

Firstly, let’s look at what you should not do:

● Put your satisfaction score first

You’d be surprised how many brands selfishly contact a customer straight after their purchase, simply asking ‘would you recommend us to your friends and family?’ These companies are clearly too focused on improving their NPS score, rather than establishing any form of relationship with the customer.

● Share irrelevant content

Are you contacting them with relevant content, or bombarding their inbox with generic ‘one size fits all’ emails? If a customer came into a store to buy a menswear jacket, it’s highly unlikely they will be interested in learning about the latest women’s shoe range the following week. It won’t make them feel valued as a customer and it’s not continuing the original conversation with them.

● Contact them too frequently

If you’re contacting the customer multiple times a week, they will become annoyed and frustrated. They’ve trusted you with their personal information – don’t abuse that trust. The customer will stop engaging and start deleting emails and comms as they arrive, because they’ve already reached the conclusion that it won’t be relevant to them. This inevitably leads to them unsubscribing and you’ve potentially lost them as a customer forever.

● Not personalising the experience

Personalisation is key. To continue the conversation with the customer, you need to be relevant.

 

What should the path to re-purchase look like?

● Recognise the customer

The first time you contact the customer, rather than trying to sell them something else, or asking if they would recommend you, how about a genuine ‘thank you’? Thank them for shopping with you, for choosing you above other brands, without asking them for anything in return. This is simple, yet unbelievably effective.

● Check in

Learn how the product they purchased is performing. Is it meeting their needs and expectations? Make sure they don’t have any concerns or issues. If they do, now’s your chance to offer a resolution.

Do they have any questions? Can you provide any additional help? Always be available for them, without expecting anything in return.

● Appropriate communication with the customer

Keep it relevant. Don’t send an email every other day if your typical customer buying cycle is only a couple of times a year. Communicate when they’re most likely to be interested and engaged. A great example of a brand with a highly effective customer lifecycle management program is Bridgestone Australia. Its ‘Bridgestone Benefits’ membership program sends scheduled communications to customers who have purchased new tyres, reminding them to book an in-store tyre check at appropriate intervals. It contacts the customer when it can add value, instead of bombarding them every week with the latest offers.

● Continue the conversation

I cannot stress this enough. Remember this is a two-way relationship. You should be talking with your customers, not at them.

 

The moneymoon period provides a great opportunity for you to build lasting engagement with your customer. You can easily erode this by bombarding the customer with regular, irrelevant content and by treating them as a number on an email list. The customer should feel respected and valued. Continuing the conversation helps build trust, credibility and ultimately leads to repeat purchases, improving the customer lifetime value.

It will also catapult the customers from ‘I would recommend you’ to ‘I am recommending you’.

 

Michael Barnard is general manager and customologist at Customology.

 

Image credit: anyaberkut © 123RF