According to Pricing for Profitability: Activity-Based Pricing for Competitive Advantage by John L. Daly, conventional business wisdom contends that it costs 10 times as much to obtain a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer.
If you spend any time researching the actual statistics available out there that show the cost of acquiring a new customer vs. the cost of keeping an existing customer, you will find results that point to it being anywhere from three to 20 times costlier to obtain a new customer. While the numbers vary by industry, location, and product type, one thing becomes clear; almost every study concludes businesses are far more cost-effective when they can retain existing customers.
One of the best ways to ensure a customer who has purchased a product or service from your enterprise remains a happy customer is to consistently engage with them post-purchase. Businesses can easily accomplish this through an instrument that is usually reserved for pre-sale engagement, the email drip campaign.
For those who may not know, an email drip campaign is a pre-programmed periodic sending of emails to prospective customers that provides them with valuable industry and product information without seeming to be an attempt to sell your products or services. When done right, drip campaigns keep your products and services top of mind for prospects, leading them down the sales funnel, and providing the right combination of product and service information as well as useful general industry knowledge.
Unfortunately, a lot of times, once a prospect is converted to a customer, businesses turn off that drip campaign, not realizing they are stopping what actually is also a very important post-sale engagement tool. Instead of completely turning off the drip campaign once a prospect becomes a customer, businesses should simply shift the content the new customer receives.
Businesses should stop sending new customers anything that seems irrelevant such as special offers on products or services they have already purchased and anything that does not refer to them as a customer.
Businesses should send new customers:
• Any relevant company or industry news, including press releases and blog posts
• Tips on using products or services they have already purchased
• Information on other products and services they have yet to purchase
• A steady stream of announcements about new products, features, and services
In many cases, enterprises may find that a good amount of their pre-sale drip campaign content is still very useful in a post-sale drip campaign. Two areas of particular note for inclusion in post-sale drip campaigns should be press releases and blog posts, especially if your blog is heavy on providing industry news and thought leadership content. Press releases, especially those on big customer wins, awards received, or new partnerships, will reinforce with the customer the idea that your business is strong, and that they have made the right choice in going with your products and services. Blog posts that speak to industry events, industry knowledge, and breaking news will ensure that customers view your business as a leader in the industry and view you as someone with whom they should continue doing business.
It is important to remember that while an email drip campaign can be very effective at landing new customers, it can also be very effective in retaining existing customers.
Artwork by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay
