Right after an online purchase by a customer, an important marketing opportunity arises. At that moment, someone chose to buy a product on your website. Seize that moment! In this article, we’ll go over a number of things you can do to turn these online customers into brand ambassadors. Want to optimize your WooCommerce shop for local shopping? You need Local SEO for WooCommerce! »
Promote us!
It’s so easy to leverage that new or returning customer right after his or her purchase. For instance, you could simply ask the customer, who obviously had an awesome experience shopping on your eCommerce site to promote your shop for you. Here’s how!
Social sharing
If you ask your customer to promote your shop online, make this as easy as possible. Social sharing can be done in two clicks: You’ve already created a great Thank You page, and all you have to do is create some social sharing buttons for your favorite social platforms. Ask your customer to ‘Spread the word’ or ‘Recommend us’. Clicking the tweet or share button will open a box with a predefined text about your shop, a link to your shop. Personalize it by adding the product name (“I just bought Product X on yourshop.com – it’s awesome!”). If the text is predefined, it’s literally two clicks that your future brand ambassador will be willing to make.
Ask for testimonials
Next to adding testimonials on your website, you should also ask your customer to leave a product review on larger review sites. Think along the lines of TripAdvisor (hotels and restaurants), GoodReads (books), Yelp (any local business). I have been camping in Denmark, and there were TripAdvisor signs everywhere telling me about the (obviously) good rating they had, and asking me to leave my own review. After a purchase, or in the confirmation email you send, I think it’s totally OK to ask a customer to leave his two cents. Not only will this help your brand in case of a positive review, it will also help you monitor things you can still improve upon.
Reviews on Google and Facebook
Next to specialized sites like the ones mentioned in the previous section, why not ask your customer to leave a review on your Facebook page or Google Business page as well? Google and Facebook are probably the starting points for any potential customer search. Regardless of whether a customer clicks to GoodReads anyway, your reviews are shown with your Google Business information like this:
Value your customers
Even online, you must strive to be that nice neighborhood shop, where you know your customers by name. Perhaps not all of them in the case of thousands of customers, but at least f.i. the largest 10% of them. That means investing back in these customers. Sending them a birthday present, adding extra incentives or discounts, things like that. Show them you appreciate them as a customer.
Keep in touch
But that’s not all. Providing great after-sales services will lead your customers back to you. That could just be a flexible return policy. Or, if you own a guitar shop and you sell a cheap Spanish guitar, chances are that the buyer is a beginner. Surprise him with a short tutorial video for simple chords a week after purchase. Send an email six months after purchase with a discount for new guitar strings. It’s all so obvious, right? In this case, you just have to keep in mind that the obvious probably works.
When creating brand ambassadors
Make sure that your customers don’t forget you. Next to all the things mentioned earlier, it’s absolutely necessary that you need to do your best to deliver the best customer experience possible. Deliver on time, or communicate on time. Treat your customer as you’d like to be treated yourself. Make the customer feel welcome in your online shop’s family!