The best type of marketing is a delighted customer who can't wait to do business with you again, and is excited to tell everyone about their great experience.
You can find countless data and statistics illustrating how companies that offer excellent customer service generate more revenue and goodwill than those that provide mediocre (or lousy) customer service. You can read 50 stats here.
At NEW Consulting, we separate a person's experience with your brand into five stages. Here are some ways to incorporate delight at every step of the way:
Attraction
This stage is usually considered the most exciting and sexy part of marketing by many. Social media! PR! Advertising! Cool photos!
Finding the right voice and visuals that communicate functional and emotional benefits that appeal to your target market, let alone delight them, is challenging.
Define your ideal customers (you can have several different types), and segment them into separate lists. Each of your segments will be interested in your business for various reasons, so make a note of them. Now you have some data that helps you create marketing pieces that tell the different stories about your brand that's intriguing to your potential customers.
Purchase
This stage is when people are in the process of purchasing your product or service.
If you sell or offer services online, focus on your purchase pathway and shopping cart. Why not give people the opportunity to choose a complimentary sample of another product or small service at the end of their purchase?
If you're a retailer, your purchase pathway is your location. Sadly, training your staff to smile and welcome customers goes a long way towards delighting people.
Using your product or service
People are using your product or service at this point, and one way you can add value to the experience is to plan an event. When I managed group ticket sales at the Auditorium Theatre, I regularly fielded "meet-the-performer" requests from group patrons. Eventually, we created a complimentary pre-show Q&A-style event with the performer so that they could meet them.
I also took things a step further by asking some of my most loyal group patrons to serve as the moderator during the formal interview. You can imagine their surprise and delight when to hear about the opportunity to interview a performer from one of their favorite companies!
Post-purchase follow up
At this point, you're asking people for feedback regarding their experience with you so you can make improvements. There are many ways to accomplish this. The most efficient way is to send post-purchase surveys. Many companies will reward customers for their time by entering them in a drawing to win a prize, which, let's face it, isn't very compelling. If you want to receive feedback, why not offer a small discount for their time?
Welcome Them Back
Hopefully, people had such a positive experience with your business that they want to return. But they're are busy, and may forget even if they enjoyed doing business with you.
If you're segmenting and tracking your customers properly, you can easily send a personalized "We Miss You!" email to your lapsed customers with an update on your latest offerings and a discount on them.
Are you looking for more ways to improve your customer's experience now? Receive our Creating a "YES" Customer Journey ebooklet when you sign up for our emails. (You can plan on receiving marketing and customer service tips and tricks once or twice per month.)