• by Laura Lee , August 9, 2012

As a marketer, you’ve spent tons of effort getting consumers to a point of purchase and convincing them to follow through with a sale. But what happens afterward? Sure, if it’s an online sale, you send them a confirmation email -- but if you stop there, you’re missing out on the biggest opportunities with an engaged customer. Worse still, if you begin sending them irrelevant one-size-fits-all offer email every day, you’re on the verge of losing the trust you’ve worked so hard to build with this customer.

About 6 months ago I bought an ultrabook from the online store of a major PC brand. Thinking these major brands should have mastered the basic rules of customer engagement; I “opted in” to receive their email newsletter. Lo and behold, I’ve been receiving blanket “special promotion” email every other day since then.

By definition, relationship marketing is about getting to the heart of cultivating an appreciative dialogue with your customers. The hope is that by reaching customers at a peak moment of positive sentiment for your brand -- after receipt of their purchase -- you can continue the conversation with a customer who is engaged, interested, and satisfied. With a strategic approach, you can solicit critical feedback, build upon the relationship, and gain “earned social media” that can drive additional revenue and other benefits associated with word-of-mouth marketing.

(Particularly for PC brands, what’s the likelihood for a customer who has purchased an ultrabook this week to buy another laptop again in the next 3 months? Rather than drowning this customer by endless “buy now” emails, following up with tips and tricks to optimize performance or soliciting their feedback on social media platforms would definitely lead to a much richer customer experience.) 

By the same token, if potential customers are so interested in your brand that they opt in to participate in a program or receive emails from you, it is important to value these relationships. The first thing is to leverage your experience and learnings with your current (happy) customers to build out a model contact strategy to lead your potential customers down the purchase path. What are the brand drivers -- emotional and rational? How to best service them? What other information do they need to make the purchase decision? Which channel is best for delivery of the right message at the right time?

No doubt, especially in a bearish economy, marketers are pressured to come up with the most direct solutions to generate revenue and boost quarterly earnings. And yes, it will take a little bit of work to get a true social-CRM program started. But give it a little time -- the benefits will certainly outweigh the effort, both in sales conversions and customer satisfaction. Done correctly, a sophisticated relationship-marketing program can turn existing (and even potential) customers into brand ambassadors and drive significant incremental revenue.

Yes, you might think you are running a very efficient email-direct program with millions of emails sent and thousands of clicks to your e-commerce site every month. What you didn’t realize were what the relationships you could have built with your customers and the long-term viral effects of their reviews and referrals would have brought to your brand and your bottom line.