There's Light at the End of the Funnel!

After a tremendous effort and considerable investment of resources to convert prospects into customers, successfully guiding them through the AIDA journey (Attraction, Interest, Desire, Action), several questions arise: What's next? Acquire new customers or foster loyalty among the current ones? What should be an appropriate commercial strategy?

Like many business decisions, the answer to these questions is relative and will depend on particular considerations.

In general terms, there is a time and place for both strategies: if current customers are not loyal and do not generate reasonable monetization for your business, even after applying upselling strategies (selling other products or services from your portfolio to the same customer), then the focus should be on acquiring new ones. However, if you already have enough customers to be at the maximum operational and productive capacity, it may not be prudent to seek new ones and risk neglecting the current ones, possibly even losing them due to a lack of capacity to provide exceptional service.

A couple of additional layers in the sales funnel should be considered to solve this dilemma: repurchase and brand promotion.

When a brand focuses on re-attracting customers for a new purchase and turning them into ambassadors, it solves the equation, paving the way for a scalable and long-term business; not only because a part of the sales is secured (although it should never be taken for granted), but also because there will be a good number of satisfied customers supporting and promoting the brand.

We are talking about extending the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) or optimizing the revenue a company expects to obtain from a customer during the time they maintain their relationship.

Once we understand the importance of caring for customers after selling them a product or service, let's look at some of the most effective ways to keep them engaged and turn them into your organic advertising:

1.- Inform customers where to find you: make sure they have a place to go, a number to call, a contact chat, or an email (that someone responds to) if they need help. Knowing that post-sale support is available can be a huge relief.

2.- Exceed their expectations with Customer Service: train your staff to look for practical solutions and resolve claims efficiently with minimal friction for your customer.

3.- Be informative, but not invasive: use big data to get to know your customer well and be present in their daily life through different traction vehicles, in a non-invasive way.

4.- Keep them informed: use tools like email marketing, retargeting, or other paid/organic tools to make sure your customers are aware of company/brand news that might interest them.

5.- Establish long-term relationships: consider enabling a membership program and provide excellent service to maintain satisfaction and encourage renewal and promotion.

6.- Content is king, as long as it is delivered at the right time: segment your customers to ensure you deliver the right message at the right time, based on their consumption habits or life events that may make them need to purchase one of your products again.

7.- Humanize the connection: build an authentic brand voice and use it to address your audiences in a specific way, with messages tailored to their life moments.

The relationship with your customers doesn't end when you close a deal; that's when it begins. Being aware of the importance of post-sale service will lead to a healthy relationship with your customers and facilitate your path to extend the value of each customer in a lasting relationship.