You know that expression ‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime’? The same can be said for marketing. If you sell a product, you make a customer today; if you help someone get continued value from that product, you make a customer for life. The companies or brands that high five after a sale without an afterthought may not see that customer again. The companies that commit to informing customers and being the most helpful are the ones rewarded with attention, sales, and advocacy by customers.
You can't have an excellent end to end customer experience if you don't have after-sale customer engagement. It’s the connector for the last stages in the sales journey—retention and advocacy. From the unboxing to the enjoyment, to the maintenance of the product is what creates an infinite closed loop with endless, tailored selling and educational opportunities. After-sale customer engagement expands beyond providing just warranty and repairs. It prioritizes the customer’s experience with the product, not just the product alone.
Why Focus on The Relationship After the Sale?
Less serial dating. Loyal customers don’t go shopping around and they’re far less apt to switch and test out competitors. As an added bonus, they’re less price-sensitive because they’re more focused on the value from a good relationship than the overall cost.
Reduce the cost of acquisition by word of mouth. Strong relationships are essential to generating good word-of-mouth recommendations to happily refer your business to peers. Happy customers introduce you to new prospects, reducing the need for paid advertising and costly marketing campaigns.
Your regulars are your rock. Returning customers buy more and buy more often. They’re less expensive to serve because of their familiarity with your business and how your product works. They’re also more likely to purchase ancillary products through upselling and cross-selling. Being provided advice and timely recommendations on their products and its uses end up cementing customer brand loyalty through a positive product experience.
Dating with Data
Companies are trying to improve the customer experience with after-sale engagement through more of a digital transformation. How? With solid product usage data from the good itself. When both the brand and customer have the full scope of the product’s happiness functioning properly, it brings the experience to a new level.
We know how important communication is with any relationship. A lack of or misinformation on a product can cause strain and suspicion on how much you care about your customer’s experience. But having the right messages at precisely the right time helps your business build a reputation as a brand that cares about their customer, and maybe more notably, the product. You can attain this by gathering the product data needed to help it thrive in all stages of its life cycle. The data builds trust between the brand and consumer proving you’re willing to keep tabs on everyone in the process.
Product usage data is the flame that keeps the relationship going. The initial spark may fade but that real-world data will allow the relationship to remain strong. It provides continuous knowledge of the product so the brand can give their customer ongoing, exceptional customer experiences based on product usage, maintenance, and user feedback.
Conclusion
Once a customer reaches the end of the sales journey, nurturing the after-sale customer experience is what becomes effective in maintaining long-term customer relationships. It’s about creating and keeping happy customers. If you continue to work on a relationship after the sale, you’ll find opportunities to feed for a lifetime.