Have You Started a Conversation With Your Customers?
It’s a new year and I want to know how you plan to do things differently in 2010. As I write this, I am sure many of you are now well educated on the benefits of social media in your marketing efforts and are using some of the tools to further engage, connect or begin to connect with your customer. Have you thought about how you are going to start that conversation?
For the past year, I have written about how important it is to have that conversation. Customers are so eager to tell you what their ideas are, share their challenges with you and tell you what they like and or love about your products and services. They want you to know how they have spread the news about your brand—just what you need and want to hear. Are you listening? Are you taking action to engage in that conversation by offering them rewards for their dedication, interest, passion and time? Are you providing roles for them to partner with you in a marketing effort that will help spread the word about the personal experiences they have had with you? Are the other members of your team engaging with these key customers—who can help provide a perspective of experience from your company—that you and your team may not be able to see from the inside?
It all begins with finding ways to start that conversation. Media Post Insider, one of the trade publications I read daily, has written a post with 3 great ideas that outline how you can get that conversation started— today. Darrah MacLean, the author of the post, suggests that “in our status-update-obsessed culture, people want to have their opinions heard and valued. By being a good listener, you plant the seeds of loyalty.”
Don’t put off today what you need to do for tomorrow. There is no time like the present!
Best Nicole
When was the last time you asked your subscriber base to share their thoughts? Three months ago? Six months ago? 12 months ago? Never? (Say it isn’t so.) Staying current with your audience keeps you grounded in reality. It helps you know what’s really going on, not just what you “think” is going on.
In our status-update-obsessed culture, people want to have their opinions heard and valued. By being a good listener, you plant the seeds of loyalty. As you take a look at your plans for 2010, you might want to add in one (or all three) of the strategies below to help get the conversation started.
1) Survey Says. 2009 resolutions are history, but 2010 resolutions are just getting started. So, how will you do things differently this year? Better yet, how do your subscribers want you to do things differently? There’s no way to know for certain unless you ask. With your customers fresh off their holiday shopping sprees, now is the perfect time to tap into their online and in-store shopping experiences. To encourage participation, consider throwing in an incentive for taking a survey, as Moosejaw did. Another idea would be to tap into your Facebook fanbase and Twitter followers. Simply post a link to your hosted version of the survey email
2) Product Reviews. More and more consumers are turning to product reviews to help them make their purchasing decisions. Why not make a 2010 resolution to show your site’s product reviews some love. Zappos and Sephora get fancy by dynamically populating their review requests with photos of recently purchased products. An even fancier bonus would be the ability to post my recent product review and product shot to my Facebook page! To launch their product review push, Lululemon introduced a “we heart feedback” campaign in the middle of December. While we could debate the timing of the messaging, the branding of it is really inspiring.
(Sidebar: Adding a little copy like “Purchase this item for someone else? Forward this email so we can get their feedback.” is a great solve for when the product review email goes to the purchaser vs. the gift recipient.)
3) Preferences Please. As we move more towards personalizing content and creating meaningful social experiences, we’re going to have to put our preference centers and profile modules to work. Take Sephora, for example. I’ve heard from many sources that they truly use their preference center to help customize emails for subscribers. After receiving this Beauty Insider Update email, I now realize why I get the generic versions” I never filled out my beauty profile! I’ll be excited to see how my email experience changes now that I’ve given them all kinds of details to work with. Taking the update request a step further, Piperlime includes a preference center message in each and every email. Now that’s dedication.
You start with a few words and concepts, use them in conversation, speaking, asking questions and answering questions. Direct Marketing