Improve customer lifetime value

1. Write email nurture sequences that preemptively answer common questions, upsell, and provide customer education.

Narrow down the top three questions your customers ask most often and send them an email that answers them before they even get in touch. Most people who abandon step one of your funnel won’t contact your support number – this automated email reaches out and gives them the chance to become comfortable or to get in touch directly. Here’s why it works: It it is personal. It comes from one of the company founders. Customers love this in itself! It addresses the three most common questions their customers have before they launch an (awesome) flight contest at Flightfox.com. They offer to help the customer personally if there are any other issues. They get real responses to this email but, even when they don’t, customers appreciate the offer. Not only does this email convert directly but it builds brand loyalty. Here’s a recent shoutout from Twitter. Once you have written these three questions down, turn the answers into an email that answers each question individually. For example: Hi {{first_name}}, Thanks for your interest in Company ABC. I noticed you looked at our product yesterday. Here’s some common questions I have received recently and thought you’d be interested in. Q: Why would I use your product? I haven’t heard of you guys before. A: You should use our product because we’re super friendly and dedicated to our customers’ success. We give you a guarantee that if you’re not happy we’ll send you a refund. It’s risk-free! [Repeat this two more times] If you have any questions, please get in touch! [Your name], [Your phone number]

2. Cross-market and provide lead generation for companies with similar customer bases.

3. Simplify your store, add loyalty and gamification programs, and display values that you share with your customers to build customer loyalty.

After one purchase a customer has a 27% chance of returning to your store. But if you can get that customer to make a second and a third purchase, they have a 54% chance of making another purchase. Loyal customers tend to spend more, purchase more often, and tell more people about your brand. If it’s easy or cheap for a customer to switch to a competitor, then customer loyalty is more important for you. The ROI of your investment in customer loyalty depends on your ability to influence it. A Harvard Business School study found that reducing customer effort is the number one factor in creating customer loyalty. The easiest way to implement this is to adhere to the simplicity principle. There are many ways you can structure your rewards programs, and often it depends on your business. Three ways: Points (like Duolingo “gems”) Achievement (like Duolingo streaks) Competition (like Duolingo scoreboards) There are many ways to structure a loyalty program A Harvard business review study found people are not loyal to companies, they’re loyal to what the companies stand for.

4. Encourage your customers to build habits around your product.

The more someone uses your product, the more likely they are to continue using it. Use the Hook model to cycle customers through triggers, actions, rewards, and investments: Develop triggers that can prompt users into using your product. Design actions that users can take in response to the triggers you came up with. Build variable rewards that provide an instant, temporary mood boost to your users. Develop opportunities for customers to invest in your product so that they can get better value from the product with more effort, or receive new triggers in response to their actions.

5. Work with your service team to streamline contact processes and focus on customer needs.

According to Harris Interactive, 56% of customers will switch brands if the alternative offered more ways to connect. To improve the customer service experience: Make it easy for customers to complain. Listen to complaints and fix problems in your business. Work tirelessly to fix the problems of your most passionate and angry customers. Fix problems as quickly as you can. Wow your customers. Go overboard. When all else fails, respond from the top.

6. Incorporate customer feedback to improve everything from user experience to product features and design

Exploration phase of the validation board method: interview your customers to find the problem you think they’re having. Interviewing enough people will reveal trending problems, while confirming or invalidating your beliefs about your customers. There are many ways you could conduct the customer interview, but here are some really great ones. Pitch phase: take what you learned about your market’s pain points from the exploration phase to create an offer in exchange for currency. Currency can be defined as email addresses, tweets, cash or anything your customer gives up to receive a solution to their problem. Concierge phase: deliver the product promised in the pitch phase to a few customers with as little technology as possible. The reason you want to start with a small customer base & minimum viable product is so you can work with those customers to create an experience they’re truly excited about.