Let's be honest, all of us have bought an "As-Seen-On-TV" type of product - something so flashy and compelling that we simply felt like we HAD to have it, only to set it aside and forget about its supposed benefits almost immediately. A few years ago my mother and I went to the Indianapolis Home Show, and we watched a demonstration of a super nifty mandolin slicer kit, which came with a handful of attachments that could cut a potato like seven different ways, including waffle cut. We were completely sold on it, and both of us have one in our respective kitchens...somewhere. I occasionally use the separate grater/slicer that doesn't require the whole assembly, but I'm fairly certain that my mother never uses hers - and neither of us ever figured out how to make the waffle cut attachment work.
For a lot of businesses, the key to sales is defining the "A-Ha!" moment - the singular focus point where customers realize the value in what your product or brand can bring to them. Identifying the "aha" moment is important to driving initial sales, especially for startups and new businesses, but what about everything that comes after?
In a
recent article on Entrepreneur, Sujan Patel of Milkshake, an email marketing tool, talked about a significant drop-off in customer engagement after the initial adoption rate. They had been focusing on the selling points of their interface, but users were having difficulty actually writing the email campaigns.
"To help our own customers be truly successful we realized that we had to invest not only in onboarding them, but in educating them."Going beyond the "aha" moment means developing a deeper relationship with your clients and will depend entirely on your industry. Perhaps it's through regular mailings, a newsletter (like this one!), social media or by following up with customers you've done a service for in the past and finding new ways to connect. Staying engaged with your customers and building brand loyalty will drive referrals and new business, even if you're not directly interacting with past customers.
Looking for ways to reach out to your customer database? Try personalized direct mail, or a custom promotional piece to thank your customers for their continued business! Contact us today to find the right solution to take your customers past that "aha" moment!