Retention & Referral: 3 Methods to Create a Customer Connection

Course content (32 lessons)

Now it’s time to learn how to turn your customers into brand advocates by focusing on retention and referral!

Here’s an overview of the key aspects of retention and referral:

A simple idea goes a long way and it goes beyond Instagram. In your product packaging, include a thank you card. Handwritten, if possible, makes a deeper connection with your customer to let them know you sincerely appreciate their business.
Create a memorable unboxing experience. This is a prime opportunity for your customer to share their experience with their followers. You can also include links to your Instagram on your product packaging.
Experiment with incentives. A great place to start is to share a coupon for 15% off your next purchase with customers.

RESOURCES:

Shopify Blog | Retention Marketing: Grow Your Business by Selling More to Current Customers (scroll towards the bottom of the blog for the five strategies)
Shopify Blog | How Referral Programs Can Encourage Customers to Do Your Marketing for You

[MUSIC PLAYING] Retention and referral are an incredibly important part of your business. You've done all this work to build an audience and guide them through the funnel to make a sale. But now what? This is my favorite stage because this is where I've seen my businesses take off in the past. This is where you can create those raving fans. At this point, it's critical to get followers coming back and referring friends. That's how you bring in the masses.
Let's start with retention. A simple idea goes a long way. And it goes beyond Instagram. In your product packaging include a thank you card handwritten if possible, as it makes it that much more effective. Thank the customer for their support and how much you appreciate that business. This creates a deep connection for your customer. Just weeks ago, they're a distant follow on Instagram. And now they're holding a handwritten card from me.
You've closed the gap between your company and your customer. As this is happening, you can introduce the idea of a referral and that can happen in a few ways. A popular element of online shopping and receiving a package is the unboxing experience. This is quite literally way a customer takes the product out of the box it arrived in. You may laugh but a lot of people like to document this process and share it. I like to include a card telling my customers to take a picture and post it on Instagram and follow us.
Not only do you get one will follower, you get them sharing their experience and you're also getting some great user generated content. Also, don't hesitate to add an incentive like 15% off the next purchase. Experiment with incentives. Say if you need them to prompt shoppers to take that extra step. Use this unboxing experience and encourage shoppers to follow you on Instagram and post about their experience. It's a great way to transition the offline product experience to an online social post.
Your deepening your relationship while at the same time driving referral traffic. They have it in the pirate frame look, awareness, activation, revenue, retention and referral. This is the framework, I've applied to all of my e-commerce efforts, especially on Instagram. Build an audience nurtured followers and convert them into customers. Keep these steps in mind, when you're ready to transform your Instagram into a powerful sales tool.
Finally, let's look at how you measure success and how you make sure your strategy is working.

Retention & Referral: 3 Methods to Create a Customer Connection

Course content (32 lessons)

Overview

01 |How to Build An Engaged Following on Instagram

02 |How to Create Content that Converts Followers to Customers

03 |⌛ Halfway There... ⌛

04 |How to Create an Instagram Sales Funnel

05 |How to Make more Sales with Influencer Marketing

Here’s an overview of the key aspects of retention and referral:

RESOURCES: