Like other eCommerce store owners, you spend money each month on pay-per-click and comparison shopping engine advertising, you write blog posts and improve your product descriptions for better SEO, and market your customers via email.
Those are all “musts” in order for customers to find you, buy from you, and keep you top-of-mind. But what about good old fashioned word of mouth advertising?
You can certainly track just how much your paid ad campaigns bring in sales, but just because you can’t quantify just how much word of mouth advertising brings to the bottom line, doesn’t mean you should ignore it.
With all the money and time spent generating customers, it’s what happens after they make a purchase that’s just as important. You want them to be your best salesperson!
We’ve all spread the word about the great business experiences we’ve encountered. Why? Because we loved the company, the service, the people, the products, you name it. Well, that’s your task: Wow them!
How? Here are three simple ways:
- Dazzling Design. Make your e-commerce site the best in its field. Make it easy to find products, easy to check out, and easy for shoppers on mobile devices to use.
- Super Service. Make every customer feel like your most important customer – always! Every interaction you have with a customer should create a lasting, memorable impression.
- Masterful Merchandising. Offer deals. Make them good, and change them often to keep up with your customers’ interest and market trends.
Now that you’ve wowed your customers, it’s time to get them to share the love. This is a lot easier than you may think! Getting them to be your best salesperson is simple, and here’s how:
- Reward Them. Give your best customers a discount or coupon every so often that isn’t part of a mass email campaign. Send off a personal email thanking them for their business and giving them an offer they can’t refuse.
- Discounts to Friends. Offer discounts to the customers your best customers provide. This is a great way to start a new customer relationship and is as simple as creating a coupon code unique to them that they can give to their friends and family and one that you can track to see the results.
- Product Reviews. Make sure you’re asking ALL your customers to write a review of their products a few days after they received their order. Most product review apps already offer this feature, so it’s ready for you to implement. You can also use the email asking them to write a review as an opportunity to solicit a new order with a coupon or special offer.
- Include Offers. Give your customers special prices on products related to the products they already buy. Shopping carts like BigCommerce and Shopify have apps that can do just this! This simple tweak leads to higher-order values, better customer satisfaction, and a better relationship between you and your customers.
The bottom line in turning your customers into salespeople: deliver the goods. If you provide great service, your customers are doing their friends a favor by recommending you. If you make promises you don’t keep, your customers won’t want to put their reputations on the line for you. Hey—would you?
Be the business you would proudly recommend. Be great!
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.