Would you tell someone who isn’t your customer, “Thank you for your business?” Would you tell a long-time customer, “We appreciate your interest in learning more about [your company’s name]?”
All of your customers are not alike. And how you correspond with them should take that into account. You’ve got prospects who viewed your videos and maybe had no other interaction. But you do have an email address.
You’ve got prospects who requested free estimates and haven’t acted. But you do have an address and other pertinent contact info. You’ve got customers who needed your service three years ago and haven’t called you since. But you still know who they are and where they live.
At the same time, you’ve got maintenance agreement customers who you see twice a year. With others, you completed an installation within the last month. Some have called you for renovation projects – and have been pleased to provide referrals. And some continue to be grateful for the emergency service you provided on the day of their real need.
Any one of these segments represents potential future business, but not necessarily business that will be generated with “one-size-fits-all” messaging. The differences within these segments of customers can – and should be – addressed with market segmentation, especially in email and in print correspondence as well.
Analyze customer life cycle – To create this segmentation, you’ll want to understand what needs “segmenting.” In other words, get a clear picture of your customer life cycle.
Triggered emails could include welcomes after any site interaction that provides an email address (such as viewing a video via a squeeze page), as well as maintenance agreement reminders, appointment confirmations and unclosed sales prompts. In other words, everyone who needs to hear from you – and when.
Your welcome message and invitation to connect on social media is the place to begin for almost all online interactions. Then let your analysis show you what other messages need delivering – and to whom.