Been talking to some marketers recently on loyalty programmes. We all know the stats about the lower costs of keeping existing customers compared to finding new ones. So it makes sense to keep in touch with the good customers. You know, drop them a note or call and see how they are doing - make sure the brand is delivering on its promise.
I know lots of brands have CRM programmes. But how often do we try and up-sell or cross-sell in our customer letters or emails?
This is the challenge: To resist the urge to always sell them something. I'm not saying you can't sell ever. I'm presuming most brands have loads of stuff that their customers want to know about. But if you try and sell something every time you contact a customer, then it's not really a loyalty programme, is it?
It reminds me of the friend or colleague that only calls when he needs a favour. It's hard to genuinely like these people.
I appreciate that brands are dealing in transactions, not friendships. But how refreshing would it be to open an occasional letter (from a brand you buy from) that starts with "This is not a sales letter."
2 comments:
Replace the words "customer" with "donor" and "sell" with "donation" and this post becomes as relevant for non-profits. The same principles apply.
yep, reminds me of that case study you showed me where a charity contacted donors to say if they understood if donors couldn't afford to give money this year.
Brave and shows a genuine understanding of their donors. If I remember correctly it didn't damage donations either.
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