5 Post-Purchase Marketing Tactics to Increase Retention

For any business, growing through monetary means is the end goal. What that entails is generating sales and making a profit, year after year. But for sales and marketing teams, it’s not just about putting all their efforts into getting new customers and selling to them. It’s also about nurturing relationships with customers, even after they’ve already purchased the product. This is what’s called post-purchase marketing. While making the sale is great, continuing that relationship with the customer is how businesses can turn a one-time customer into a repeat customer. That correspondence makes customers feel like the company truly cares about them, and that they aren’t just a sales number.

The sale is just the beginning of the relationship between the customer and the company. The customer journey isn’t linear, it’s a loop. It doesn’t end once the customer purchases. If brands have an effective post-purchase plan in place, it can send customers back around towards the acquisition stage or straight to the purchase stage again. Post-purchase marketing, when done well, encourages repeat purchases and can even create brand advocates. Here are five post-purchase marketing tactics you can employ to increase retention:

1. Customer Support

Just because a customer purchased from you, it doesn’t mean they’re satisfied with the product. To better support your customer after a sale, keep communication lines open. The customer support team can create valuable content for customers like user-friendly guides on how to best navigate your product, or they can do it over the phone. Because the last thing you want is a disgruntled customer. Especially one that will rant on social media about their unpleasant experience.

2. Email Marketing

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Despite the popularity of other digital platforms like social media, email continues to be one of the most effective marketing tactics. Everyone has an email, and most people check it regularly. This is even more true for those working in business. To make it easier, automate email marketing campaigns. Whenever a customer takes a specific action, be it signing up for something or purchasing a product, it should trigger an email response. Just make sure the content is personalized enough so customers don’t feel like they’re just receiving a generic templated email.

3. Customer Feedback

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One of the biggest benefits your business can get from post-purchase marketing is positive reviews. Asking customers for reviews gives you more insight into your products, services, and the overall customer experience. After all, knowing that there’s a problem is the first step in figuring out how to fix it. For those glowing reviews, your business can reuse those testimonials in future marketing efforts, which will help bring in more customers.

4. Refund Policy/Returns Process

While it seems counterintuitive, making your refund and returns policy clear helps both your customers and your business. When customers purchase something, there’s a level of anxiety attached to it. They want the money they spent to be well worth it in the end. Similarly, returning products can be a stressful process, so giving customers a quick but informative guide is helpful. Making both your refund and returns policy not only eases their anxiety but also lessens the chance they’ll get buyer’s remorse.

5. Social Media and User Generated Content (UGC)

selective focus photography of person using iPhone x

Lastly, businesses can use social media to connect with their customers. In a follow-up email post-sale, you can encourage people to engage with you on relevant social channels. You can create a unique hashtag to promote your business and encourage other users to share content with the hashtag, thus creating user-generated content (UGC). Or you can even run a competition on social media to increase engagement. UGC not only engages customers but also creates authentic content that you can repurpose in future marketing campaigns.

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