One of the most important steps a web-shop owner can take is to ensure continuous communication with their customers.

Often a lot of time and money is spent on attracting customers via online advertising, competitions and social media. However, once the customer has landed and the first sale has gone through the focus is often back on acquiring the next customer. Whereas, the focus should be on trying to sell more to current customers.

New Customers

As important as they are, it is often easier and cheaper to sell to current customers as they are already familiar with you and your product. 

Existing customers have already “approved” you. They know they are getting their goods when they buy from you. Minimal research is required on their behalf to validate your brand and product. They know the purchase flow and feel safe as a customer with you.

The adage that it costs up to 5 times more to sell to a new customer than an existing customer is still a good guideline. There are also many web-shops that diligently use Facebook’s Retargeting Ads to advertise to existing customers and visitors.

Personal Communication

Where the successful web-shops really differ from the rest are in the communications to their customer base and others with an interest in their products.

Successful web-shops are personal, relevant, and timely in their communication. It is not just a matter of running generic ads on Facebook or sending out generic newsletters. The process needs to be made to feel like human interaction.

Personal communication is as important as the product being sold requiring greater consideration before the customer is ready to buy.

Web-Shop Example

Let us imagine a web-shop that sells dog food. As part of the sales process, always make sure to register the breed, name, and birthday of the customer’s dog. This is easily done as part of a check-out flow. 

All captured data is stored together with information about the brand and size of the dog food purchased. The web-shop will use this information to automate a flow that sends out a reminder when it is time to buy dog food again. 

Everything happens automatically: From the content of the email, to a reminder for new supplies, to choosing the right brand of dog food. As the customer’s address is known, offers can also be sent for local events. Local events can include obedience training, rescue runs, bark in the park or instore events. 

If the system has registered that the dog is no longer a puppy, other types of food can be suggested. An explanation why it may be a good idea to switch to a new type of food can also be added. So, when the owner clicks in the email, the owner can be taken directly to the web-shop, where the order can be completed.

If other products are looked at, regardless of whether they are placed in the basket or not, they are also registered. So future communication can include these products for the customer to reconsider. This way, the web-shop ensures that they only send relevant and timely communication to their customers. 

The example here is that a web-shop can quickly sell marketable products that do not require much consideration.

Good Customer Service Pays Off

The customer sees no part of the back-end process. Therefore, what the customer does see is good service. The experience of the customer here is that of a business that knows them and their needs. It keeps the customer happy, while the web-shop sells more.

If you want to become wiser about email marketing and how you can best use it to ensure effective customer communication and an increase in sales, MarketingPlatform has a large number of written articles on email marketing and marketing automation.

This blog post has also appeared in a MarketingPlatform Newsletter.

Author: Alex Trajcevski

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Perfekt - Vi sender linket om et øjeblik

Udfyld venligst dit navn, eventuel firmanavn og emailadresse nedenfor. Linket vil blive fremsendt i en email, når du har bekræftet din emailadresse. Du vil samtidig blive tilmeldt vores nyhedsbrev, som du naturligvis kan afmelde når som helst.
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