When did you last talk to a customer?

Most businesses are trying so hard to attract new customers, they fail to invest in talking to existing customers. OK you may communicate with the customer during the transaction: when they are buying the car; dining at the restaurant; consulting about pensions; buying a PC online but what about afterwards? 

It's easy to fall into the trap that because the sale was made, the jobs been done. However, it should be the start of a long relationship not the beginning of the end of the relationship. 

Whatever product or service you supply, every day that passes without contact with the customer means there is less chance that the customer will make another purchase. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to pester the customer every day for 3 years because they bought a printer from your website.

But it does mean that you should be having an ongoing dialogue with the customer that provides value to them (and you) and also shows you care about their business. 

The communication strategy will vary.

The communication solution for someone buying an online £200,000 mortgage may not be the same as someone spending £10 on printer cartridges. The right solution will depend on a range of factors including the product or service; the purchase value; the average purchase interval; the degree of customer involvement etc.  

What doesn't change is that you should be doing something to increase customer lifetime value. Continuing an appropriate regular dialogue with customers after they have purchased is the best way to grow customer lifetime value. If done properly it should :-

• increase the customer retention rate
• increase the average customer lifetime
  
• increase the average transaction spend
• increase the number of transactions per period

Over the past 20 years, I have helped some of Britain's best brands use a range of marketing techniques to increase customer lifetime value. Many of these techniques are unknown to over 99% of SMEs but the good news is that many would work equally well with smaller businesses.

Better still, online businesses have specific advantages. The ability to track visitor behaviour online should provide greater customer insight than most traditional businesses have access to. Secondly, the ability to send low-cost personalised emails with dynamic content specifically tailored for individuals has moved customer communication to a new level. This would not have been either affordable or possible for SMEs to do using traditional communications.

As BT used to say, 'It's good to talk.'

Related blogs

What do you say to your valuable customers? - Comparing Amazon's 'lifetime' emails with copy from another company that leaves a lot to be desired.
Are you doing too much web marketing? - How Sainsbury's have got the 'lifetime' email frequency wrong.

Web marketing tips that any business (large or small) could apply to attract and retain new customers

• Capture customer behaviour data (visits / purchases) as part of your web marketing strategy to increase customer lifetime value
• Analyse the data to identify who to talk to, when to talk to them & what to say
• Automate the process and use letters or ideally emails to send an appropriate message based on your data analysis
• You have to do more than just say "Hello Peter" - Offer appropriate content based on their previous online behaviour 
  
• Make sure the copy is appropriate for your brand but do not try to con or patronise your customers - they are not stupid
• If you are unsure how to do this, get a web marketing expert to help

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing consultant with UK web marketing agency Brand New Way which helps companies to attract and retain valuable customers online.