Making a new sale can often feel like the end of the journey, but for your customer it marks the beginning of their lifetime with your brand. Retaining customers is important for the longevity and sustainability of any business, so recognize opportunities where you can increase their brand loyalty. The first opportunities come before their first purchase, where you can offer first-time purchase discounts, collect contact information and outline your impact on your community or industry.
Painting a clear picture of who you are and what you do is a core component to making a customer feel comfortable and confident in your brand. You can learn more about your brand’s messaging in our Interest article.
Once a customer is interested in your product, they will evaluate it critically. Many customers have similar initial thought process:
- How much is this?
- Is there a cheaper option?
- If there is; why is this service or product superior?
- If there is not; is this service or product reliable?
- Customers will look to your messaging to answer their question.
- Having a chat-bot to answer questions is a popular functionality that can increase your conversion rate.
- Is there a cheaper option?
Note that the price of your product/service will influence the expectations of the consumer.
Keep the customer confident
Higher priced products/services often have the pricing below product features, videos and reviews that detail the value of the product aimed to reassure the consumer of their value to make them comfortable when eventually seeing the price.
Strategize the functionality and features your website will have to make the customer feel confident in their decision to purchase.
Product reviews are essential. For many consumers, product/service reviews will have the greatest influence on their decision to purchase. Ensure a review section is prominently displayed and make adding new reviews effortless.
Utilize an automated email-campaign to send an email prompting customers to leave a review a few days (possibly longer depending on delivery time) after their purchase. For services, you can ask for a review from the client at the completion of the contract or after significant milestones are reached for on-going projects. You can incentivize reviews by offering a discount on their next purchase in exchange for the review.
Video content is the most engaging form of media, so utilizing it is ideal. However, be mindful that videos on a website can significantly slow down the load-time. A reputable digital marketing agency can help reduce the size of the video to keep your website agile.
There is a fine line between being persuasive and overselling in your messaging. Avoid overselling. Setting expectations that your product or service can not deliver, can lead to a negative experience and reviews.
It’s not fun, if it doesn’t function
As discussed in the Awareness article, your tech-stack needs to be outlined at the start of your campaign. Thankfully the majority of what you will need is the same across the board for most websites. Here what we would recommended for a basic tech-stack for a sales funnel:
- Website
- Google Analytics - shows the traffic and some usage statistics of your website
- Email capture modal
- Review section - that visitors can add to themselves
- Product/service pricing
- Payment processing
- Google Ad words - create and manage paid advertising for Google searches
- (Optional) Tracking pixel - detailed information about a user’s experience
- Email Marketing
- Mailchimp account - the most popular email marketing platform
- Automated workflows - send out emails after specified events occur
- Social Media
- Meta Business Suite - allows for scheduled posting on FB & Instagram
- Meta Ads Manager - create and manage advertisements on FB & Instagram
- Hootsuite - allows for scheduled posting on two channels for free
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a way to utilize keywords in your content and meta descriptions to organically (for free) rank higher in search results that contain the targeted phrase. SEO requires a moderate understanding of how to edit the backend of a website, incorrectly editing the backend could have major consequences and so it is recommended to partner with a digital marketing agency, like Think Design, to assist with an SEO campaign.
It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later!
Inevitably not everyone who lands on your website will become a customer. That doesn’t mean you have to just say goodbye to them forever.
With a basic tech-stack you will have captured contact information of those who were mildly interested in your product/services. You can compare your list of customers to your email sign-ups and create an email remarketing campaign, designed to bring back those people who left without purchasing.
You could incentivize them with a discount, or simply highlight your most popular product/service and provide them with a deep description of it. Statistics of user satisfaction also are impactful and could inspire a customer to return.
Regardless of if a prospect has become a customer or not, keep in touch with them. That’s why they gave you their information after all.
Together, people are powerful.
For those that have made a purchase, encourage them to become advocates of your brand and pay attention to those who began advocating without any prompting. Word of mouth is incredibly valuable and ultimately people trust each other more than they do a company.
Curating a group of advocates will benefit your brand, especially once they start creating UGC (user generated content) that you can reuse in your next marketing campaigns. The goal of the sales funnel is not just to make on-time sales, but to gain repeat customers who value your product/service enough to spread the word about it on their own.