Did you know that increasing your customer retention rates by as little as 5% can increase your profits by as much as 95%! Do you still wonder if you need to invest time and resources into crafting a post-sales strategy for your business?
2. Create a Post-Sales Content
Strategy for your Business Today
Stages of consumer behaviour
Stage 1: Consumption
Customer consumes/uses product/ service
Did you know that increasing your customer retention rates by as little as 5%
can increase your profits by as much as 95%! Do you still wonder if you need
to invest time and resources into crafting a post-sales strategy for your
business?
The strategies undertaken post-sales are aimed at increasing repeat sales,
gaining customer feedback enabling product innovation and enhancements,
and lastly but most importantly increased referrals and brand advocacy.
But before we discuss the various activities to be undertaken post-sales, it is
important to gain an understanding of consumer behavior and examine its
various stages. This will enable you to formulate an effective post-sales content
strategy, by effectively mapping the different content assets to various media
channels for each of these stages.
Once a product has been sold, the first stage is the actual
consumption or usage of the product. As a marketer, you need to
ensure that you share adequate information to smoothen this
process for your customer. This can be done via emails containing
product guides, webinars or 1- on -1 free consultation to ensure
that all startup issues with the product are addressed, and any
troubleshooting that occurs during setup/usage is in a controlled
environment.
3. Stage 2: Satisfaction
Customer is satisfied/ dis-satisfied with the product/
services.
Satisfaction and dissatisfaction is a state of mind, triggered by the
users’ experience with the product. Most users are inactive during
this stage; perceptions pertaining to the brand and product are
now beginning to take shape. You can leverage this effectively by
creating innovative avenues/ interaction points to channelize
positive perceptions (Satisfactions), build customer testimonials in
turn turning them into brand loyalists/advocates. Dissatisfied
customers need to be directed to the right resources so that the
help required to resolve issues is accessible and immediate.
Ensuring that the degree of communication is high with the new
buyer is important in this stage.
Stage 3: Engagement
Customer engages with the brands
The most critical stage, engagement refers to a constant dialogue
between you and your customers. Consumers may choose to
engage with a brand either to get ongoing support for the
product/ service or gain training on how to use the product.
Ensuring product adoption is high by crafting a content strategy
that caters to the above needs will ensure that your customers
have a positive experience with the brand.
4. Stage 4: Repurchase
Customer decides to repurchase/ renew contract/
service
In this stage your customer’s opinion about the product is
positive, and has now successfully become a repeat buyer.
He has confirmed his allegiance to the brand and has
demonstrated that through repurchase. Content Marketing
tactics that confirm this decision will ensure that he continues
to be a repeat buyer of the brands’ products and services.
Stage 5: Loyalty
Customer confirms his allegiance to the brand.
A loyal customer is one who continues to invest in your
brand’s product/ service. He has capitalized on what your
brand has to offer and is convinced that there is no parallel
competitive offer that can be equally compelling. Degree of
trust on the brand and services is appreciably higher and is
difficult to disrupt. Communication with such a customer
should give him incentives for his ‘stickiness’ with the brand
and should aim at pushing him to the next stage of brand
advocacy.
Stage 6: Advocacy
Customer promotes and recommends the brand
In this stage the customer moves from just being a repeat loyal
customer to becoming an advocate for your brand. He is
committed to your brand and plays the role of an influencer
and an ambassador on behalf of the brand. He plays the role
of the brand evangelist and is proud of his affiliation with your
brand/product/service. He openly shares his experiences with
people, indirectly becoming a part of your organization’s
virtual sales team. Communication with such a customer should
reward him for his loyalty towards your brand to ensure that he
continues to promote and recommend it to his circle of
influence.