3 Elements of a Winning Post-purchase Marketing Campaign

You made the sale! Pop the champagne. Cheers to your marketing campaign. It worked.

But hold it—you’re not done yet.

Too often companies stop at the sale, which means they are missing out on opportunities and putting in a lot of extra effort.

It’s easier—and costs less—to get a customer to buy from you again than it is to convince somebody new to buy from you for the first time. That means every time you don’t extend your marketing campaign post-purchase, you’re working harder instead of building momentum.

That’s why a marketing campaign that ends with the sale isn’t doing the job. A winning campaign provides customer service and makes it easy for customers to buy from or work with you again.

Let Your Brand Shine in Your Post-purchase Marketing Campaign

Picture this: You nurture a customer along through a carefully coordinated process. You work hard to build brand consciousness and connect with them. They buy. Your response is a completely impersonal “Thank you for your order” message.

If your thanks feels automated and insincere, you’re breaking the connection you worked so hard to build.

What’s the solution? Make sure all post-purchase communication, including order confirmation and “your product has shipped” emails, are branded. That means that visually they are clearly from your company. Think logo, brand colors, company fonts. More importantly, make sure they sound like your company. If customers expect a fun, cheeky style from you, don’t send them a boilerplate message with no personality.

And while we’re talking personality, think about personal touches. Smaller businesses often compete on unique product, customer service, and personal attention. A handwritten note, or even a personalized email from a person (not just the company), or personal recommendation help you stay connected with the customer.

Maintain Engagement Even After They Buy

Is your last message saying, “Thanks. Buh bye now”? That’s clearly not how you want to end things after a sale.

What kind of follow up beyond the standard order confirmation and shipping notices should you use? These are three favorites:

• Request Feedback
  Ask customers to complete a brief survey about their experience with your company. Keep it short and focused so you don’t waste their time. If you get particularly negative feedback, have a follow up process. Great customer service can salvage a bad experience.

• Recommend Other Products
  Keep service in mind as you create recommendations. (All sell, no value doesn’t work.) Suggest products that work well with what the person already bought—show them how best to use them together, upgrades that people tend to purchase after they’ve been using something for a while, or new products that compliment a previous purchase.

• Special Offers
  Send a discount to past customers to entice them to come back for more. Send it after a recent purchase or on the anniversary of their first or some significant purchase.

Other ways to keep people engaged include asking them to follow you on social media, sharing a relevant blog post, or letting them know that an item they were interested in is low in stock or has recently been restocked.

Make It Easy to Take the Next Step

If you’ve followed the first two tips, your follow up messages are on brand, and you’ve designed them for engagement. Now make it obvious what you want people to do—and super easy for them to do it.

A headline and button combo pack a one-two punch to let people know what you want them to do:

Headline: You’re 25% Closer to Your Wish List

Button: Shop Now for 25% Off

In between you might mention items they looked at or that go well with a previous purchase or urge them to treat themselves. But the most obvious things on the page are guiding them directly to the next step. They don’t have to think, they just have to click.

If want them to fill out a survey, use a Tell Us What You Think button. If you want them to follow you on social media, large, clickable social media icons do the job. You get the idea.

Bottom line, make it simple for people to take action.

A pre-sale marketing campaign is about building a relationship. A post-purchase marketing campaign is about maintaining it. So don’t drop the ball because somebody bought from you. Keep giving value and service and making it easy for them to stay connected with you.

Does your marketing plan fizzle out after a sale? Modi Marketing helps small to mid-sized businesses create and implement marketing campaigns focused on repeated business. If you’re ready for a marketing campaign that’s as strong post-purchase as it is pre-purchase, we can help.

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