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.
Stages of Consumer Behavior
Stage 1: Consumption
Customer consumes/ uses product/ service
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.
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.
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 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.
