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Seeing your hard work pay off in the form of a sale is extremely rewarding, but it doesn’t mean your marketing process is complete. Converting leads into customers is a difficult task, so once someone decides to buy, it’s important to stay in touch so they can become a repeat client.
Marketing to customers is different than marketing to leads. Although they have already seen value in your brand, you need to continue to provide them with interesting content and offerings that will make them buy again. When you are able to delight your current customers, they’ll come back for more and tell their friends about you.
In this post, we’ll reveal three tips you should consider using to create repeat B2B clients. Let’s jump in!
Key Takeaways:
- Getting repeat customers for your B2B business depends on establishing a strong relationship with past buyers.
- After a customer makes a purchase, it’s important to stay in touch.
- Upselling, marketing automation, and personalized messages are all great ways to convince your customers to come back for an additional purchase.
Tip 1: Go For the Upsell
Upselling can be an incredibly effective strategy to increase sales, but only when done appropriately. When you upsell a customer or client, you’re pushing an additional or supplemental product or service based on their original purchase. However, for this strategy to be effective, you need to present the right product at the right time.
An upsell promotion can be presented at different stages of the buying process. In the above example from MailChimp, the company is pushing an ‘unlimited’ plan before the customer makes a purchase. An upsell offer might also appear while the buyer is checking out, or after the initial purchase has been made, often through an email.
An upsell can help your customer understand what other products or services you offer that can enhance their original purchase. Whether it is a completely different product or an augmented version of the purchase they’ve made, buyers will get an idea of what they can come back to buy.
When promoting higher tier products, your approach should be to sound natural and unforced. Remember that you are aiming to provide value by offering the customer what they need, not simply trying to make another sale. Also, make the upgrade process as simple as possible so the overall customer experience isn’t affected.
Tip 2: Use Automated Marketing Tools
In order to secure a repeat customer, you need to keep in touch. However, when you’re trying to connect with dozens or even hundreds or thousands of past buyers, it can be overwhelming to maintain consistent contact with each one. This is where an automated marketing tool can come in handy. It can enable you to set campaigns to auto-pilot, letting them run with minimal effort on your part.
Automation is often used in email marketing campaigns. The above example of an automated email campaign from Pardot shows you how one version of the process can work. Since each message sent depends on the action of the customer, you can decipher what people are interested in, what content they may be looking for, and more.
With an automated marketing campaign, you can send out blasts about new deals, products, or offerings that your customers may be interested in. Because many programs allow you to create segmented lists, each of your clients can receive emails specific to their interests, purchasing habits, or needs.
When creating an automated campaign, consider how you can make each message as tailored as possible. This can improve your chances of securing repeat buyers.
Tip 3: Ask for an Update
Once a customer purchases a product or service, you want to ensure they had a positive experience. Reaching out to ask for an update or sending a follow-up message enables you to double check that everything went according to their expectations. It also gives you the opportunity to solve any potential problems early on.
In this example of a follow-up email from Useful Writing Courses, they’re looking to find out how the tool was applied to the recipient’s day-to-day business activities. Not only does this provide useful information to the company, but it presents an opportunity for the customer to raise any concerns they may have.
Sending an automated message is a great way to reach out to clients about a purchase, especially if you have a large number of customers. However, because the B2B business world relies heavily on trust, you may want to consider sending a unique message or even making a phone call—especially if they’ve made a particularly large purchase. Creating a direct line of communication between you and your client can help you establish a strong rapport that can contribute to additional purchases.
Bonus Tip: Send a Personalized Thank You
B2B customers like to feel valued and appreciated. Their purchases typically requires lots of research and often a large chunk of their budget, and they’d like to know this hasn’t gone unnoticed. To show that you care about their business and would like to see them return, send your customers a personalized thank you note after making a purchase.
This example of a personalized thank you note comes from Grasshopper. As you can see, the author got specific about the experience the customer had, while even managing to throw in an upsell. The recipient of the message feels remembered, valued, and important—increasing the chances of them returning to the company for another purchase.
To get the most success from your thank you note, try to make it as unique and personalized as possible. Be sure to mention more than just the purchase the customer made, but also conversations had or some other piece of information unique to the transaction.
It is also important to note that a thank you message should be much different than a follow-up message. While both are important tools to use after a sale is made, they serve two separate purposes. Your thank you note should focus specifically on building a stronger relationship with your customer.
Conclusion
Sometimes, convincing buyers to make a second purchase can be more difficult than the original sale. However, when you use the right strategies to stay in touch and persuade customers to buy again, you can end up with a strong base of loyal B2B buyers.
Let’s recap the four tips you should be using to create repeat customers:
- Push an upsell early on so clients know what other products or services may suit their needs.
- Use automated marketing tools so you can stay in touch with minimal effort.
- Reach out to customers to see how the product or service is working for them.
- Send a personalized thank you note so buyers know you care.
Which of these tips do you think will bring the most repeat customers for your business? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image Source: Pexels.
