But what is after-sales follow-up and what does it have to do with customer retention and loyalty? Read on to find out. (post-sales follow-up)
The actions that a brand establishes to maintain communication with its customer after the sale, to know how the process went, how it went with your product or service, if it is working properly, if it met or exceeded their expectations, lay the foundations of the loyalty process.
And, what is post-sales follow-up?
So, to summarize what post-sales follow-up is, we could summarize it as: the strategy that gathers all customer service activities after the customer has already purchased a product or service and has started to use it.
But what we will discover is that the definition of post-sales follow-up goes beyond a “thank you for your purchase”. As we will see below, people today are looking for personalized and unique experiences.
Let’s take a look at an example cited by Kimberly K. Richmond in her book Powerful Sell Sellable.
Think of someone who has just purchased a car and along with the cordial and necessary thank you note, also receives an additional item in their email with safety tips unique to that brand. Think about that same customer receiving on his birthday, along with the cordial and necessary congratulatory note, a brief report with the indicators that show how the brand he bought has been valued in the market.
Surely this is a customer whose post-sale experience will allow him to be an ambassador of both the brand he bought and the place where he bought it.
Well, it is only one of the phases of post-sales follow-up, we will talk about other types later, but for now, let’s understand its importance and one of its main benefits: loyalty.
How does post-sales follow-up contribute to customer retention?
Having clear what post-sales follow-up is and its relevance to customer loyalty, you need to know that 51% of customers are loyal to a brand that interacts with them.
It is clear that interaction does not only refer to the purchase process, it also includes the after-sales process and is fundamental in the loyalty process, which today is key in the market.
According to an Accenture study, customer retention is one of the key factors in the new consumer environment.
The new consumer? Yes, all those people who are permeated by the digital transformation. But this concept does not refer only to the millennial generation. No. This includes all those who with a click, from the sofa at home, make any transaction.
So for a brand to have the necessary skills to serve the new consumer, it must take into account four factors:
Loyalty: as we have mentioned here, the company must have the ability to create and adapt its products and services in order to achieve better customer retention. And not only that, keep in mind that 14% of consumers express their loyalty by supporting the company publicly on social networks.
Facilitate services: there are companies that made the market shake with services that were previously unthinkable or very difficult, such as trying makeup before buying it or making deliveries in one day, and that makes consumers have higher expectations regarding innovation and quality of sales and after-sales processes.
Offering new experiences: making services and products relevant to consumers is increasingly important to them.
Channel integration: there can be no difference between physical and digital channels. Brands must increasingly focus on omnichannel and improving the quality of customer service.
What other advantages does an after-sales service have?
Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
This is a metric used especially by marketing teams to determine the cost of investment to capture a potential customer (or lead) vs. the number of customers acquired (or converted).
By having a potentially growing number of customers through loyalty, the investment to attract new customers could be strategically reduced.
Increase customer retention
While loyalty refers to the maintenance of customers, retention refers to the brand’s ability to keep them when they are dissatisfied.
Post-sale follow-up allows to identify the moments and factors due to which expectations were not met and to try to revert the experience for a better one. 57% of consumers in the U.S. say they have an unresolved complaint while, on the other hand, they continue to receive offers or discounts for similar products.
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