There is something rather curious about the way many businesses approach marketing – they invest time, money and a considerable effort in attracting new customers, but the moment someone finally makes a purchase, the relationship seems to come to an abrupt end.
The customer has bought. The sale is complete. Job done. On to the next one. Let’s go and attract new customers!
After all, there are more people to reach, more potential customers to attract, more followers to gain and more campaigns to launch. There is always another audience waiting to discover the business, and surely that is where the attention should be. Except that it isn’t quite that simple.
We wonder what happens to the person who has already bought from you?
Do you keep in touch? Do you make sure they were happy with their purchase? Do you give them a reason to come back? Or do you simply hope that, at some point in the future, they will remember your business exists (just because!) and decide to buy from you again?
We talk endlessly about reaching new audiences, while often doing remarkably little with the people we’ve already reached. And perhaps – and in our (humble) opinion – this could be one of the most overlooked and underestimated issues in the way companies approach marketing.
The endless hunt for the next customer
Let’s consider a fairly ordinary example. A business invests in social media campaigns, creates content, pays to promote its posts and perhaps even runs an advertising campaign to attract new customers. Someone discovers the business, visits its website, makes an enquiry and eventually buys something. Success – marketing has done its job! Or has it?
From the perspective of creating the lead, adding it to the sales funnel and generating that first sale, yes, it absolutely did. However, the customer relationship has barely begun (and there’s marketing to be done in it! – if you know what we mean). The person who has just bought from that business now has a first-hand experience of its products, services, communication and customer care. They have something that a potential customer scrolling through Instagram does not – a reason to form an opinion based on reality rather than (marketing) promises.
What happens next can thus make all the difference. Perhaps the business sends a short message to thank them for their purchase. Perhaps someone checks that everything went well. Perhaps it provides useful information about the product or service, or simply makes it easy for the customer to get in touch if they need help. Or (more often than we’d like to admit), perhaps nothing at all happens.
The customer receives their purchase, the transaction ‘disappears’ into the company’s records, and everyone moves on. Until, a few months later, the business launches another campaign to attract new customers, spending money to reach people who have never heard of it, while those who have already trusted it are left to their own devices. It is an interesting way of doing business, isn’t it?
Of course, attracting new customers is essential. No business can grow indefinitely by selling only to the same people, and there are perfectly good reasons to keep looking for new opportunities. But constantly chasing new customers while neglecting the existing ones is a bit like filling a bucket without checking whether there is a hole in the bottom. You can keep pouring water into it, of course; you might even get very good at it; but wouldn’t it make more sense to check the bucket first?
The sale is not the end of the story
One of the most common misconceptions about marketing is that its only purpose is to generate sales. It is certainly an important part of the equation, but it is not the whole picture.
Marketing is also about building relationships, shaping perceptions and giving people reasons to choose a business again rather than simply choosing it once. A customer who has had a good experience may return, purchase something else, recommend the business to a friend or mention it when someone asks for a recommendation. They may leave a review, share a post or become one of those people who recommend a company without being asked.
None of this is guaranteed, naturally. A satisfied customer will not necessarily become a loyal one, and a loyal customer will not necessarily become an enthusiastic ambassador for your brand. People have lives to lead, and recommending businesses to others is not usually at the top of their daily to-do list. Nevertheless, a positive experience gives them a reason to consider returning. A poor one gives them a reason not to. And there is one more important detail to be considered here: customer experience is not separate from marketing – it is part of the message a business communicates about itself, whether it realises it or not.
A company can have a beautiful website, an impressive social media presence and a clever advertising campaign promising excellent service. But if a customer struggles to get a response after making a purchase, those ‘promises’ suddenly look rather less convincing. The same applies to a business that promotes itself as attentive and customer-focused but takes three days to answer a straightforward question; or one that enthusiastically welcomes a new customer and then seems to forget their existence. No amount of carefully crafted copy (and mind you we are copy girls!) can entirely compensate for the gap between what a business says and what it actually does.
And where does digital marketing fit into all this?
This is where things become particularly interesting, because digital tools give businesses plenty of opportunities to maintain relationships after the initial sale. A simple follow-up e-mail, a useful newsletter, an occasional message about a relevant product or service, or a well-managed customer database can all help a business stay in touch with people who have already shown an interest in what it offers.
Social media can also play a role. Not every post needs to be designed to attract someone new, to generate a lead or to produce an immediate sale. Content can be extremely useful to existing customers – answering questions they may have, helping them get more out of a purchase or reminding them that the business is still there if they need it. And yet, how often do we see businesses not treating every social media post as an opportunity to shout “Buy now!” at an audience that may even have bought from them only last week? Don’t get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with selling. Businesses exist to do business after all, and there is no need to pretend otherwise. But communication becomes rather limited when every interaction has the same objective.
Sometimes, the most useful thing a business can do is provide information, offer assistance or simply make the customer feel that their decision to buy was a good one. Nonetheless, keep in mind that this does not mean bombarding people with e-mails, sending promotional messages every other day, or turning a customer database into an excuse to invade everyone’s inbox. There is a difference between maintaining a relationship and becoming that person who keeps calling long after everyone else has stopped answering.
The point is to communicate with a purpose, at the right time, through the right channels, and with something genuinely relevant to say. And – it goes without saying (or maybe not!) – to respect people’s preferences and applicable data protection requirements when using their contact details. Having someone’s e-mail address does not automatically mean that every possible marketing message is welcome. Digital tools make maintaining contact easier. They do not, by themselves, make all contact meaningful.
Loyalty isn’t built on a discount code
When businesses think about encouraging repeat purchases, discounts are often amongst the first ideas that come to mind. A special offer for returning customers; a voucher for the next purchase; a loyalty programme. All perfectly legitimate approaches, depending on the business and what it sells. But true loyalty can seldomly be bought with a discount offer.
But if the only reason someone returns to a certain business is that it happens to be cheaper than its competitors that week, what happens when someone else offers a better price? Exactly! Price matters, naturally, but so do trust, convenience, reliability, the quality of the experience, and the feeling that a business understands what its customers need. Sometimes people return because they know what to expect. Sometimes because a company makes their lives easier. Sometimes simply because the last experience was good enough that they see no reason to look elsewhere.
Consider a local restaurant, for instance. Attracting a new customer with an appealing social media post is one thing. Giving that customer a consistently good experience, thus remembering what makes the place worth revisiting, and making them feel welcome, is another. Or consider a service-based business. A client who has just completed a project may not need the same service again for months, perhaps even years. That does not mean the relationship has no value in the meantime. Staying in touch (in a useful, appropriate way, obviously) may mean that, when the need arises again, the business is the first one that comes to mind.
There is no universal, fail-safe formula for customer loyalty, and not every business needs an elaborate retention strategy. Sometimes the basics – doing what was promised, communicating clearly, being available when needed, and treating people well – already make a considerable difference. Which brings us to an uncomfortable question – how much effort do businesses spend trying to persuade people to buy, when compared to the effort they spend making sure those people have a good reason to return?
Perhaps it’s also time to look at the customers we already have
We are not at all suggesting that businesses should stop investing in customer acquisition, abandon their advertising campaigns or spend every waking hour sending thank-you messages to previous/ existing customers. Nor are we suggesting that every customer should receive a carefully orchestrated sequence of e-mails, personalised offers and follow-up calls (plus, in some businesses, that would be unnecessary; in others, it would be downright irritating!). What we are however suggesting is that businesses should give their post-sale experience the attention it deserves.
Start with a few simple questions. What happens after someone buys from you? Is the customer given the information and support they need? Is there a sensible way to keep in touch, where appropriate? Do you make it easy for them to return, ask a question or recommend your business? And, perhaps most importantly, do you know why customers come back (or why they don’t)?
You do not necessarily need another platform, another advertising budget or another complicated marketing plan to answer these questions. You may simply need to pay more attention to what happens after the sale. Because the customer who has already bought from you is not yesterday’s news. They are someone who has already taken the time to discover your business, consider what you offer and decide to trust you with their money. And that is definitely worth something.
Marketing does not stop when the payment goes through. In many ways, that is when the business gets its first real opportunity to prove that the promises made before the sale were worth believing. Attracting a new customer is an achievement. Giving that customer a reason to return is another. And creating an experience they are happy to recommend to others may be one of the most valuable things a business can do.
So, the next time you review your marketing activity, by all means look at your reach, your engagement, your enquiries and your sales. But spare a thought for the people who have already bought from you. Are you giving them a reason to come back? Or are you too busy looking for the next customer to notice the ones who are already here?
