The other day I was reading a rather dreadful mailer from one of my banks. It started with “Dear Customer” and went on to tell me about changes at the bank that might affect me, but only if I had one of the two key accounts they were referring to. There was no personalization or acknowledgement of the relationship I had with them or the services of theirs that I actually did use. I also don’t happen to use either of the two services the letter referred to so when I got to the end of it, I was annoyed. I had wasted a few moments of my time reading something that had nothing to do with me and was frustrated that they didn’t take the time to segment me out, leading me to question if my relationship to them mattered at all.
Guilty?
Are you guilty of this same type of communication with your current customers?
Effective customer engagement and retention programs should separate types of customers based on how much they spend, what they buy, who they are, what matters to them and what their potential for growth is. (Tweet this!) A plan should already be in place on how you will upsell and acquire introductions from each before you ever make your first sale.
How to do it right:
I am currently working with one of our private clients to set up a fairly sophisticated automated marketing system that puts new customers into one of six marketing sequences, based on how much they spent and what they purchased. At each step, an action is triggered to send a message to an assigned person to perform a task, such as to send a postcard or call with a survey. The entire process is measurable and able to be tweaked on the fly to maximize results. As an added bonus, this system also creates a valuable asset for the business owners because if they decide to sell their enterprise someday, they will be handing over a “business in a box.”
All of their customers are made to feel special and important and only receive communications that pertain to them specifically. Each message is strategic, meaningful and part of an overall plan to maximize the per-customer value ensuring that they will never be guilty of my bank’s big mistake.
What are you doing to ensure you aren’t either?
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