The situation

We live in an age where we’re spoilt for choice. Online shopping is continually booming and people’s insatiable want to purchase goods isn’t slowing down. According to a Roy Morgan study, in 2015 Australians spent $41.3 billion on online shopping. Every four people out of ten purchase products from online stores at least once a month. People are spending, and the market is full. So, what can you do as a business to ensure you are winning those sales?

What is a customer lifecycle?

Our previous blog introduced customer lifecycles. The process a customer goes through before they decide to purchase a product or service. Customer lifecycles come in all shapes and sizes, and one thing is for sure. If you want to win the sale, you need a customer lifecycle in place.

So, what stages does a customer go through before they decide to make a purchase?

Everyone has their own label for them, some businesses talk about awareness, consideration, intent, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy. Others just keep it simple with an attract, convert and loyalty phase. Infusionsoft breaks down the customer journey into the attract, sell and wow phase.

• Attract: During this phase, the objective is to target your ideal customers and attract them to your store or website. You can do this through various marketing channels using various imagery and copy that is going to be most effective for that target market.
• Once you’ve attracted interest, you need to turn that interest into leads and collect those leads in your database.
• Sell: Have you ever walked into a store and bought $4,000 speakers without asking for information about the product brands and specs? Probably not. This is why the educate phase is so important. We need to educate our customers about the benefits of the product and service before they can justify buying it. If they haven’t bought the product after you’ve told them how good it is – send them an offer. Give them a first-time buyer offer, a discount or special ‘limited time only’ deal. It may take a few reminders but if it’s done right, eventually you’ll close the deal.
• WOW: This part comes in three phases. Deliver and wow, offer more and get referrals. Give your customers the ole razzle dazzle when you deliver your products. Make them feel special and excited about their purchase. Use the opportunity to up-sell them. If they bought a blender, offer them 10% off your smoothie recipe books. Alternatively, you could offer them a discount on their next purchase, so they come back for more! At this stage, you might want to ask your customers to refer a friend. The friend gets a free gift, the customer gets to gift a friend and your business gets a potential lead – everyone wins!

Each stage has micro steps the customer needs to take. Having a clear understanding of the steps you want your customers to take is key to success. If you can set and influence those steps, you’ll have a higher chance of winning more business, more often. If you want to increase your business revenue by creating the perfect customer lifecycle get in touch with Throttl on 1300 560 581 or check out our Infusionsoft packages here.