/U/Marketing

If you’re looking for long-term, sustainable income for your online store, you’ll want loyal customers, who are worth up to ten times as much as their initial purchase and will spread the word about your business for free. So how do you convert first-time buyers into loyal customers? We call this process customer nurturing: all the things you do to keep your customers coming back time and time again to your humble (or fabulous!) ecommerce store. Here are just a few of them:

1. Make your first impression last

Customers are more likely to come back if you can give them a great experience right from the get-go, so think about the small things you can do to make them feel appreciated. It’s standard practice to show a confirmation screen as soon as someone’s placed an order, so put that screen to good use. You can

• thank them for their order
• ask them to create an account for faster purchasing next time
• invite them to sign up to your mailing list
• suggest other products that might interest them
• encourage them to follow your social media pages
• use social sharing buttons to get them talking about their order
• give them a way to get in touch with you, if they have any questions
• provide links to useful information about the products they’ve ordered.

You probably won’t want to do all of those at once, but try a few and then monitor your traffic to see which is most effective. And don’t forget to let your brand personality shine through!

2. Deliver your message when you deliver the order

It costs virtually nothing to slip a handwritten thank-you note in with your customer’s order, but it’s a surefire way to remind them that there’s a real person on the other side of that webpage—someone who will appreciate their feedback and future orders. You can also offer discount vouchers or free shipping deals for future orders, which they can use for themselves or give to a friend.

3. Turn transactional emails into a powerful call to action

Transactional emails are those you automatically send out when a transaction takes place. They’ll usually come from your ecommerce software, and they include order confirmations, invoices, receipts, shipping notices, delivery tracking updates and account creation notices. Like the order confirmation screen customers see after checkout, each of these transactional emails is an opportunity to send your new customer helpful information and a call to come back to your ecommerce store. It’s also a further chance to showcase your brand, so don’t slip into the bleak, formal tone that’s all too common in these emails. Instead, take the opportunity to show your colours and speak authentically. And you can use all the same approaches we’ve mentioned previously, but we prefer

• photo links to related products
• links to FAQs, shipping information, and returns policies
• one-click feedback surveys
• social sharing buttons.

4. Continue the conversation

The longer you continue the conversation with your customers, the more likely it is you’ll spring to mind when they start thinking about their next purchase. So keep in touch with your first-time customers in a variety of ways—through email marketing, SMS and social media.

Keep in mind that email marketing works best when it’s tailored for your recipients, so create different audience segments in your email marketing software. For example, instead of talking about sporting goods with all your customers, tell your running subscribers about the latest shoes and the best trails, and tell your golfers about new club technology and golf destinations.

When it comes to social media, customers have expectations about how long it will take you to respond, so it’s best not to overcommit. Only sign up to as many platforms as you can comfortably manage. Just choose one or two where you can really add value, and make sure you’re available during the time of day your customers are most active.

5. Keep your ear to the ground

Pay attention to who’s talking about you, not just to you, by setting up a Google alert or running a search on Twitter or Facebook for your business name. When a customer posts positive feedback, jump in and thank them—you’re likely to end up with a new follower. If a customer posts online about a bad experience, see it as an opportunity: they’ve shown a willingness to talk about your business, so give them something good to say by reaching out with an offer of assistance.

The lifetime value of your loyal customers is much higher than their first purchase, so it’s worth nurturing a mutually beneficial relationship with all your first-time buyers. Neto is a leading omni-channel ecommerce platform designed to help your business grow across multiple channels. It offers a wide range of add-on integrations to the platforms you use for shipping, digital marketing, social media, and customer support, giving you ample opportunity to connect with your customers and invite them back again. We’ve also got more information on customer retention and recruitment, and how to nurture your leads.

So, how can social media benefit your business?

1. It allows you to build and differentiate your brand and reputation

What makes you different from the rest? Who are you? What do you do? Social networks emphasise the areas you specialise in and make it easy for your audience to relate to you.

You can share knowledge relating to your industry and client base, and you can build a picture through customer reviews and responses to queries and comments.

2. Your local business can be a global superstar

Your business might be small and you may lack the advertising budget of larger businesses. But social media can even out that playing field.

Social media gives you the opportunity to really market yourself and build a brand around being local, small, agile and responsive – all great traits that consumers will admire.

3. You can keep an eye on the competition and on industry trends

You can follow other organisations in your area of business on social media, and you can keep up to date with trends, news and key information. You can also keep an eye on what your competitors are up to.

4. You can get direct feedback from your customers and prospective customers

Two-way platforms like Twitter and Facebook let you interact directly with customers and prospects, helping you to understand the services they need, and to research new ideas, ask for their thoughts, and their feedback (what they like and what they don’t like).

They’ll be happy to tell you, and in the meantime you’re keeping them updated with what you’re doing.

Manage your reputation

Social media allows you to see what’s being said about your business and gives you the ability to respond to comments or complaints quickly. Demonstrating a high level of customer service has a powerful effect on your reputation.

Social media is a cheap way of marketing your business, but does require a time commitment.

So before you open a business account on a social network, read about the key ones: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram.

Form an opinion on which networks are best suited to your business, ask your customers what they use, look at what presence your competitors have, and once you’ve decided on the best suited networks – crack on and start building your brand!

1. Online reviews and how they rule the internet

Amazon kicked things off by placing customer reviews directly under their products – and the rest of the internet has followed.

Not only do online reviews show honest and genuine opinions, it’s been proven repeatedly that consumers read and trust them when spending their hard-earned money on products or services.

Companies like TripAdvisor and TrustPilot have built entire businesses based purely on providing user reviews.

Simply put, if you can easily show reviews and feedback on your business, more people will choose you. And the more work you get, the easier it’ll be to grow.

Overall, it’s now the most efficient way to show potential clients that your service will live up to the reliability and quality you promote and they expect.

2. Google My Business

When you search for a business using Google, you’ll often see a box in the search results that displays info about that company, such as the name, address, contact details, opening times, and – crucially – Google reviews.

Anyone with a Google account can leave reviews, so it’s a good idea to capitalise on this.

It’s free and easy to manage your business in Google; all you need is a Gmail address. Log in, enter all the relevant details so they’re up to date, and you can start interacting with the people who leave you reviews.

When you’ve finished a job, ask clients to leave you a review there (or provide the link in follow-up emails).

3. Online surveys and feedback forms

If you’re looking for more in-depth feedback about your services, use an online survey. These can be emailed to your customers as soon as each job is complete.

A lot of free survey software is available online, so we’ve highlighted some of the most popular:

• Survey Monkey – the King Kong of online surveys. The free version has enough features to get started and it’s really easy to use.
• Typeform – these surveys look great: very slick and well-designed. With the free version, you get 100 responses a month and can ask 10 questions per survey.
• Google Forms – this is free as long as you have a Google account. The range of features are extensive, including various design options, as well as different ways to analyse the info you gather. Like most Google products, it’s extremely functional and very useful.
• MailChimp – this isn’t strictly a survey tool, but it’s a site you can use to send emails to your customers. It does have a way of incorporating Survey Monkey forms though, and its basic features are free.

4. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Here’s a simple question you can ask your customers: “How likely is it that you would recommend (your company) to a friend or colleague?”

Using a response measured from 0-10, you can test whether your customers are ‘promoters’ (happy with your service), ‘detractors’ (unhappy with your service) or ‘passive’ (indifferent to your service).

If you find you have more detractors than you’d like, you know you may have to work to improve areas of your business. On the other hand, if you have many promoters, that shows your customers are happy with the service you’re providing.

You might ask this question at the end of a job and then record the results to see over time how your customers feel about your company and service.

Or, you might ask this questions at several stages during the job to measure how people feel while it’s underway. This can give you feedback on communication, planning, and finally, the quality of the finished work.

You can use one of the online survey tools above to ask these questions, or read more about NPS.

5. Online profile pages

Having an online profile page that appears in Google searches is a great way to show off your business and expand into different areas you’d like to work in.

For instance, tradespeople who register with Rated People get their own profile pages included in their membership. They can use these to find new clients and build up those all-important online reviews, which are only written by homeowners who have used the site.

Chances are, you haven’t made much progress on your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. And that can be a real problem, because your online store is far less likely to be found if you’re not on Google’s first page of results. A whopping 90% of searchers never look further than the first page, and that top position claims almost one-third of the click-through traffic.

SEO strategies are best implemented in small steps over time, which will let you measure what’s working and what’s not. So we’ve come up with this list of seven strategies to get your ecommerce website ranking higher on Google and other search engines.

1. Optimise for mobile first

With 70% of online transactions now occurring on mobile devices, it’s no surprise that Google is factoring mobile design considerations into their search algorithm by indexing mobile versions higher than desktop site versions. So every time you make a decision about optimising your online store for search rankings, you need to consider how it applies to your mobile site. Most ecommerce platforms, like Neto, come with built-in mobile responsive design templates.

2. Get your site up to speed

If your site doesn’t load in under three seconds, you’ll lose 40% of your site traffic. Given that you’ll have high resolution images on your website, it’s important that your website theme loads content appropriately. Avoid loading external elements, and make sure you’ve got a good hosting plan in place. Consider using a content distribution network like Cloudflare to improve site load times around the world.

3. Structure your information so it’s easy to navigate

It’s not just people navigating your site—search engines navigate it too, crawling through all the links to understand how your pages relate to each other. If you’ve set up your products in sensible categories, you’re already halfway there. When planning your URL scheme, base it around your product categories, and use real words rather than codes and numbers.

You have options for handling colour or size variations of a particular product, so spend some time investigating how your customers search for items within your store. It’s usually best to list them as a single item with options, but if one colour is more popular this season, you might choose to list it separately. As search engines understand text better than drop-down lists, it can also help to include prominent text about your offered options, such as “available in red and black”.

If you need to list one item in two categories, such as when it’s in a clearance sale, use Google’s rel=”canonical” link tag to show which is the main product listing, and avoid having your two listings competing with each other.

4. Write original, engaging content for real people

When you’re writing content, remember that you’re writing for real people who have a genuine interest in your products. Give them what they want by writing copy that will keep them reading. We know you wouldn’t dream of copying content from someone else’s website—that would be plagiarism—but did you know that search engines can penalise you for copying your own content? So, even though it can be tempting to re-use your content, do it with caution to avoid penalties for duplicate content. This is another use for the canonical tag we mentioned in the previous point.

If you’re using a database of product information from your vendor, make sure you add your own touches. Those databases tend to be full of technical information, but your descriptions should make shoppers feel excited to be in the picture. If you’ve got a lot of products, just start with the ones that are getting the most hits. Adding user-generated content is an easy way to get more unique content on your site, so encourage your customers to post reviews and endorsements, and publish them with the products, rather than on another part of the site. And don’t forget to add content to your category pages as well!

6. Keep your site fresh with new content

In addition to keeping your database updated with new products on a regular basis, you can improve your ecommerce store’s search ranking by adding other content. One of the best ways to do this is with blog posts, which can range from specific posts about your products to general discussions of trends in your industry.

We’ve touched on customer reviews already, as a way of adding original content. But they also tend to come in regularly as shoppers buy and use your products, so they contribute to keeping your site fresh. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for feedback—it’s worth the effort.

7. Research your keywords and use them wisely

Keywords are a huge topic in SEO, as they come into play on every part of your site. Use an analytics tool to look closely at searches that are getting people to your site. Local searches—by people in your country, using the same language—generally convert better, so focus on those. Different parts of your site will use different keywords, and you don’t want to end up with them competing, so think about keywords for individual products rather than just your home page. Then use your keywords throughout your site, not only in your content but also in the metadata, such as title tags, anchors, and image file names. But don’t be tempted to stuff your articles full of keywords to the point where they don’t sound like real stories—Google hates that!

Before we go…

There is one more crucial thing you need to know: SEO is always changing as new website technology becomes available and search engine algorithms are updated. So optimising your online store isn’t a set-and-forget process. Keep on top of of the changes and remember: you can fool the algorithms, but not for long, and it can take years to undo the damage. The one thing all algorithms have in common is that they favour websites with genuine, meaningful content that online shoppers will find useful, so the tips we’ve given you today are a great place to start.

1. Add something to your website once per week

Search engine algorithms are complicated beasts, but they’ve got a simple goal at heart: to find the most current and relevant content in response to each search query. (Google can tell you more about it.) You can boost your rankings in the results by regularly adding fresh content to your ecommerce site in the form of blog posts or customer product reviews.

2. Take the information to your customers

It’s rare for customers to visit an online store every single day, so if you’ve got news to share about product launches or special deals, don’t be shy. It’s easy to keep your customers up-to-date using tools like MailChimp to send targeted campaigns based on customer profiling and order histories from your ecommerce platform.

3. Encourage window shoppers to step inside

Don’t miss an opportunity to turn a website visitor into a customer. Use timed pop-ups, like those offered by Just Uno, to ask shoppers if they’d like to sign up for your newsletter, and reward those who say “yes” with a discount code to use on their first purchase.

4. Be social every day

Like search engines, social media platforms also use algorithms, effectively curating their users’ feeds, so you need to post regularly if you want your customers to see your content. For that reason, it’s better to start small and just choose one or two platforms you can commit to, rather than spreading yourself thin on too many sites. The optimal posting frequency for each platform seems to be:

• Facebook: 1–2 posts per day
• Instagram: 1–2 posts per day
• Twitter: 3–5 posts per day
• Pinterest: 3–5 posts per day
• LinkedIn: 1 post per day.

That sounds like a lot, but you won’t need to write it all—share the love by sharing content from your partners and fans. Use social media tools to tweak the frequency and scheduling of your posts until you’re happy with the level of engagement and conversion.

5. Promote your social posts

The concept of paying to “boost” your social media posts was introduced along with feed algorithms. It’s a cheap and simple way to increase your total reach, but you’ll need to choose and adjust your target audience wisely if you want to convert those interactions into sales. If you’ve already got a solid fan base, they’re often your best audience to target first, as they’ll respond positively and share your post further.

6. Help your fans find you with social buttons

Customers will only interact with you on social media if they know where to find you, and every other touch point is an opportunity to help them with that. Display social media buttons prominently in the headers or footers of

• your online store
• your blog
• the templates for all emails sent by your ecommerce software
• all marketing communications.

You can further extend the reach of your content on all platforms by making sure your blog and product pages have social media sharing buttons, which encourage users to share your content without leaving your site.

7. Capture their imagination with images

You’ll get more attention by including photos in your Facebook posts, and limiting your text to a catchy headline and a link. The effect is significant—up to 53% more likes, 104% more comments, and 84% more click-throughs. Use photos in your comments as well, where they claim more real-estate and really stand out.

8. Use infographics to educate and inspire

Everyone seems to be time-poor and suffering from a serious case of information overload these days, so deliver the details in a memorable and easy-to-digest format. You can make your own infographics using cloud software like Easel.ly, or hire a professional to design one for you. You’ll want to choose a topic that has broad appeal across your industry or vertical, so your post will get shared far and wide.

9. Move beyond static images

Around 80% of consumers would prefer to watch a video about a product than to read about it. Give them what they want by producing your own short videos or sharing your customers’ video reviews. They don’t need to be Hollywood quality—some of the best videos are filmed on iPhones—and you can even live-stream your message using Facebook or Twitter.

10. Go pro with video animation

A simple, home-made video is all you need to communicate with your customers. But if you really want to stand out against your competitors, you’ll want a custom animated video from a professional producer like Ad On Digital. Or have a go at making one yourself. Short, snappy animations are widely shared on all social media platforms, especially if they’re humorous or witty, so they’re a popular way to get your message out quickly.

11. Run a live Q&A session

Webinars are an effective way to educate groups of customers in real time, wherever they are. Systems like Cisco WebEx or GoToWebinar are just two of many platforms that have been specifically designed with all the tools you need, like screen-sharing and chat functionality. But if you’re looking to achieve a similar effect without the setup cost, try hosting your Q&A as discussion threads in a Facebook event, or get your customers to ask questions on Twitter and answer them in a streaming video session. (You might also hear the term “ask me anything”, which is exactly what your customers will do.)

12. Make the most of your affiliate network

Online shoppers are always looking for the best deal on the perfect product and there are going to be times when you can’t give them that. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out altogether. By referring your customers to other online stores through comparison shopping tools and affiliate networks like ClixGalore and Commission Monster, you’ll earn a small commission on the traffic you generate. And if you sign up as a merchant, you’ll benefit by receiving traffic from other referring sites.

13. Reward your loyal customers

Loyalty programs do more than just create an incentive for customers to make another purchase: they also make them feel appreciated. Look for a tool that automatically assigns points for purchases that can be redeemed as credit towards future purchases, like Loyalty Program. Alternatively, join a national rewards platform like Rewards Central, which offers points or vouchers to new and existing customers who read about your products, visit your site, or answer surveys.

14. Zoom out to show the bigger picture

While a lot of digital marketing is centred around your products and services, it’s also an opportunity to provide a useful and memorable service that shows your customers you understand their bigger pictures. For example, if you sell luggage, you could encourage customers to post and tag you in holiday photos that show off your products, or set up a Pinterest board featuring the hottest new destinations and travel accessories. (You can even tie it into your affiliate marketing program.)

15. Keep it fun

Find ways to turn customer education into a fun game with rewards for those who persist. Try hiding some easter eggs on your website to encourage your visitors to view a few more pages. Or you could generate Pinterest interest with a treasure hunt: start on your blog with a link to your first pin, which contains clues to the next treasure hunt image. Don’t keep them hunting for too long, and make sure your treasure encourages them to call in again.

One step at a time

That’s a lot of digital marketing to work through, but you don’t have to do everything at once. Begin with the platforms you’re familiar with and those that integrate with your ecommerce software, so you won’t need to learn a whole new system to get started. Then gradually add in the other strategies that interest you. Every business is unique, so you’ll need to monitor your online store traffic to see which strategies are working the hardest to help you grow.

Neto is a leading ecommerce platform designed to help your business grow across multiple channels. It offers a wide range of add-on integrations to digital marketing platforms, including several of the ones we’ve mentioned above, and inbuilt analytics to help you track your campaign success. Oh, and we’ve also got a few ideas on the best ways to reach your ecommerce customers and give them an offline experience to remember.

This is especially true for online retailers, whose competitors are just a few clicks away. Customer experience is set to be the leading brand differentiator by the year 2020, so if you want your customers with you for the long haul, it’s important to recognise that their first purchase is just the beginning of their journey with you. Keeping in touch with them on a regular basis is an essential part of delivering a great customer experience that keeps getting better as you learn more about their browsing and buying patterns.

You’ll get the biggest benefit (and highest conversion rates) from touches that are targeted, timely and relevant. While every communication is a sales opportunity, they aren’t all suited to a hard sell. If you instead focus on providing your customers with helpful information on a regular basis, you’ll be kept at the top of their minds next time they’re looking to buy. Let’s look at eight great opportunities to proactively help your customers with personalised communications.

1. When they place orders

Customers expect to receive confirmation of their orders both on-screen and by email, so this is a great time to add that personal touch and set expectations for your future communications, especially with first-time buyers. Make sure your confirmation email template is consistent with your website’s tone, content and design, and use your integrated ecommerce platform to automatically populate the relevant customer and order details. Encourage them to continue interacting with you by

• including links to your social media profiles
• directing them to a blog post with tips and tricks for using your product
• linking to useful reference material like user manuals or your returns policy
• letting them know how they can get in touch to ask question.

2. When you pack their orders

Everyone loves a surprise! Give your customer orders a personal touch by slipping in a handwritten note or a small gift to show how much you appreciate their order. You’ll make them feel good, which will leave a lasting impression and encourage them to tell others about your great service.

3. While their orders are in transit

Let your customers know as soon as you’ve shipped their orders. They’ll be reassured that you’re thinking of them, and know when to expect their delivery. Most shipping companies now offer online tracking and updates via email or text messages, so be sure to pass along the relevant website and consignment details to your customers.

And if there are any variations or delays to your shipment, let your customers know as soon as you can—and tell them what you’re doing to fix it. Your customers will appreciate your honesty, which builds trust in your brand.

4. After they’ve received their orders

When your package lands on your customer’s doorstep, you’ll be at the top of their mind, so it’s a great time to touch base and ask them for some feedback or a product review. This will be easy to time if you’re tracking your shipping, because you’ll be notified when your customer orders have made it the last mile. Otherwise, you can just time your email to suit your usual delivery window, being careful not to send it too soon—if a customer receives your feedback form before their order, they’re less likely to fill it in and less likely to give you meaningful answers if they do. Keep your request short and simple, and consider including a discount voucher for all first-time customers to entice another purchase.

Delivery-time isn’t the only time you can ask for feedback, of course—you can also make surveys available on your website year-round. It’s a good idea to offer discount coupons as an incentive, which will appeal to genuine customers.

5. When they’re due for servicing or replenishment

If you’re selling products that need refills or regular servicing, like printers or coffee machines, be proactive about reminding customers when they’re due. This is where your customer data is really helpful. For first-time buyers, you can time the reminder based on the average ordering frequency of your other customers. And as they place more orders, you’ll have a better idea of their buying pattern and be able to pre-empt their next order. Customers will appreciate the convenience of your reminders, so they’ll trust you to tell them what they need to know about their products, and you’ll be first on their mind when they next need to order.

6. When they haven’t ordered for a while

Customers can vanish off the radar for all sorts of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with customer experience, like travel or a change of personal circumstances. It doesn’t mean you need to vanish off their radars!

When you’re looking to bring customers back into the fold, it’s even more important to take a personalised approach to your offering that considers their previous buying and browsing patterns. Entice them back with

• a discount on items they had added to their wishlist or placed in a shopping cart, but then abandoned
• access to a members-only presale before you open a sale to the general public
• an incentive to tell their friends, by offering a discount code to both the customer and their new referral.

You’ll be reminding customers that you’re still ready and waiting to meet their needs. And even if your customers aren’t in a position to come back, you’ll be the first business they think of when a friend asks for a recommendation.

7. On a special occasion

Celebrate with your customers on their birthdays and other special occasions by sending your best wishes and a little gift like a birthday discount or bonus. Of course, you can only do this for customers who choose to tell you their date of birth, but you can look for other hints in your customer data, too. If they’ve previously placed gift orders with you, remind them about it at the same time next year—maybe they’ve forgotten their anniversary! They’ll be grateful for the reminder, and more likely to click through to your online store.

And don’t forget to share your special occasions with your customers, too—we all look forward to birthday sales!

8. When you’re on their minds

Are your ears burning? Customers might be talking about you on social media! It’s what they do when they’re delighted by your service, frustrated by a problem, or weighing you up against your competitors. But they won’t always tag you in their posts, so use social media monitoring tools on a regular basis to check where your name is cropping up. Once you know who’s thinking of you, you can start a conversation, answer their questions, encourage them to talk with other customers, or even surprise them with a freebie.

When you respond to your customers on social media, they’re willing to spend up to 20% more on your items, and 30% more likely to recommend you. So targeted interactions make a much stronger social media strategy than simply chasing likes, follows and shares from people who think your posts are cool, but aren’t really interested in your products or services. By turning frustrations into conversations, you’re reminding genuine customers that you’re keen to listen to their concerns and help them with problems, and they’re more likely to turn to you next time.

Get your timing right

If you want to send the right message to your customers at the right time, you need information about their personal and online identities, their interests, their browsing habits, their wishlists and abandoned shopping carts, their past and current orders, and their future delivery dates. That sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn’t need to be.

Neto is an omni-channel ecommerce platform with full business analytics and a wide range of add-on integrations to the other platforms you use for shipping, digital marketing, social media, and customer support. It’s a simple way to get all the information you need to lead meaningful conversations with your customers, so you can give them the superstar experience.

A movie-goer can tell anyone interested if a flick is a dud or a must-see before they’ve even finished watching it. My wife and I love how we can check a restaurant’s rating while sitting in the carpark trying to determine if we should dare venture into a new place to eat.

This has put a lot of power into the hands of consumers, which I’m very much in favor of. My question, however, is how are rating sites going to affect field service companies, and should these companies be worried?

Accolades from industry appraisers

Many field service companies love to advertise how they’re ‘#1 in Customer Satisfaction’ or how they have the ‘Best First-Time-Fix Rate in the Industry’.

These claims are typically backed by an outside industry expert and come with a plaque or trophy to hang on the company’s lobby wall.

But what if these claims don’t match up with the majority of what’s said about the company on online rating sites?

Will award programs become obsolete or will they turn away from the criteria they use to give said awards? My bet and hope is on the latter.

The problem with award programs

Many companies attempt to decipher what is referred to as ‘big data’: the gathering of information collected from consumers’ preferences and habits to spot market trends or uncover areas that can make their businesses more effective and profitable.

In many ways, field service companies have the upper hand when it comes to measuring and analyzing efficiency.

Because the typical service tech has to document everything they do, service companies have an exhaustive list of key performance indicators (also known as metrics) at hand to analyze for their effectiveness and profitability.

With this information, field service companies can qualify for outside awards programs if qualifying criteria is met.

What many outside the field service world may not know is that the metrics these accolades are based on can be easily manipulated.

Creative reporting can win the prize

Let’s say Managing Director Bob has a meeting with his field service managers in which he expresses his concern over the team’s first-time-fix numbers.

It seems an award they have qualified for won’t be won if things aren’t turned around – quickly.

The managers in turn call team meetings to stress that it’s imperative the first-time-fix goal is met at the end of the year. The solution? Techs stop documenting the follow-up service calls.

If response time is the goal that’s suffering, techs may feel the need to skip maintenance, use a quick repair, or show up and leave the call incomplete for a part (which they fail to report so first-time-fix isn’t impacted).

It becomes a game of which metric do you want me to manipulate this month? (This also applies to metrics used as part of reviews, rewards, or incentives.)

Awards versus high ratings

My opinion is that industry awards are becoming less and less important as internet rating sites continue to become more and more popular.

Even though a ‘#1 in First-Time-Fix’ award might be based on legitimate reporting, if a rating site has a majority of reviews complaining of shoddy repairs, the business will suffer.

The overabundance of exemplary advertising claims has made consumers jaded at best. Reading real opinions from real users of a product is a way to cut through the advertising jungle, which only sings a company’s praises.

Rating sites have their negatives too

The downside of internet reviews is that anyone with an axe to grind can be as negative as they want. Also, there’s plenty of opportunity for a company’s competitor to bombard a site with negative reviews.

On the flipside, companies can have their employees front-load reviews with positive comments.

The system is far from perfect. But most people who peruse review sites know that it’s the average that counts and the more reviews given, the more accurate the poll.

It’s also fairly obvious when someone is overly negative or much too flowery on a post. Experienced review users can spot the difference.

Of course not all service techs play with the numbers to manipulate metrics and not all managers put enormous amounts of pressure on the service force to make metric targets which encourage the practice.

Perhaps rating sites will work to shift a focus on award-winning metrics to what really matters most: retaining satisfied customers.

Another great source of business insights? Larger companies. You might think that you don’t have a lot in common with big box stores and retail giants to gain meaningful insights, but the fact is, SMBs can pick up lots of valuable lessons from these businesses. Big companies have plenty to impart, especially when it comes to managing growth and operations. Check out some of those lessons below and see if you can apply them to your business.

Invest in technology to increase efficiency and get more done

For many large retailers, the secret to keeping business operations humming lies in technology and automation. They have the proper systems and tools in place so they can spend less time worrying about the little things and spend more energy on the big picture.

As a small or medium business, you too should find ways to incorporate technology into your operations. Go through your existing processes =and identify manual tasks that you can automate through certain programs or apps.

Consider what Crane Brothers, a contemporary menswear retailer, is doing. To save time and operating expenses, Murray Crane decided to automate the task of transferring sales data to his accounting software. Rather than manually plugging the numbers into the program, he integrated his point-of-sale system (Vend) with his accounting software (Xero). He got the two programs “talking” to each other, so information is automatically transferred from one system to the next.

The result? Murray was able to free up time so he and his staff could devote more energy to helping customers. He also estimates that the automated system in his store saves him forty to eighty hours a week — or one to two full-time employees.

Data entry isn’t the only thing you can automate. These days, there’s (usually) an app for most of the tedious administrative tasks in your store.

If you regularly make appointments with customers, for example, consider using an app such as Timely, which streamlines bookings and sales, and even sends automatic appointment reminders to your clients. Do you spend a lot of time managing employee shifts? Check out Deputy, which lets you and your staff coordinate schedules from your mobile devices and sends shift changes and notifications for you.

Learn to delegate so you can focus on the big picture

Anyone running a major corporation will tell you that it wouldn’t be possible for a business to scale if the owner tried to do everything. That’s why for the sake of your business (and your sanity) see to it that you’re appropriately delegating tasks to your team. Doing so will free up your time to focus on actually growing your business.

“Many entrepreneurs like to do things their way and struggle with delegating workloads, but they can look at large companies that do this — well and often — as a guide for passing work down to team members the entrepreneur may focus on other priorities,” says Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com

“Letting go, not hoarding the work, empowers your team and enables a small business to expand, providing its team members with growth opportunities that match their skill sets.”

Be more data-driven and improve decision-making

Large business rely heavily on data when making decisions. Every promotion or product that they invest in is rooted in information gathered from surveys, focus groups, and big data solutions.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to be a retail giant to get your hands on valuable data. There are plenty of tools in the market that can help you gain the customer and industry insights you need.

Most modern POS or retail management systems have reporting capabilities that allow you to track sales, inventory, and customer behavior. And if you’re selling online, you can use a tool like Google Analytics to monitor traffic and online sales.

Such solutions help you make smarter decisions in your business. For example, looking at your sales reports will tell you exactly which products or suppliers are driving revenue so you can plan your stock orders accordingly.

That’s what happens at Podarok, an England-based retailer selling hand-made gifts. Podarok owner Andrey Pronin shares that they constantly use their POS system to dig into their sales data so they can make more reliable decisions.

“My favorite feature has to be the sales reports. By day, by month, by period, by hour, but most importantly, by supplier,” he says. “We can predict what is going to happen next year and therefore plan our staff rosters and product ordering in advance. This saves us a lot of time, and therefore money. We only order what we need and know that will sell. We are also able to order only as much as we need because we can see how much was sold before.”

Have formal staff training programs in place to turn people into top performers

Retail giants devote sizeable resources to employee training and development. Not only do they have formal onboarding programs in place, but most offer rigorous training and provide opportunities for continuous development.

Just like in big businesses, you also need to invest in your staff training practices. Doing so doesn’t just make learning easier and more effective, but it also sends the message that you take staffing seriously in your business. This, in turn, can have a positive effect on employee performance.

So how exactly can you improve staff training in your company? That depends on the existing processes you have in place. But a good first step is to formalize how staff training and education programs are carried out.

For instance, instead of an informal training session for new hires, why not develop a comprehensive training plan? Or, rather than just verbally instructing your employees about how things are done in your store, make sure your policies and processes are documented and accessible by your staff. Consider uploading learning materials online (even if it’s just a shared Google doc), so your employees access the materials from anywhere.

Don’t have the resources to develop courses or programs yourself? Consider partnering with third-party education providers. The NRF (National Retail Federation) Foundation, for example, recently launched Rise Up, a training and credentials program for retail workers. Rise Up offers courses on retail fundamentals, customer service, and sales, and it aims to provide learners the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in a retail environment.

Embrace innovation to stay ahead of the competition

Trying new and innovative things is critical if you want to stay competitive. Large businesses are aware of this, which is why they’re constantly trying out technologies and finding ways to innovate. Some companies are taking innovation so seriously that they’re setting up “innovation labs.”

These labs, which usually operate as separate divisions of the company, serve as incubators for new ideas. They are expected to cook up innovative, and sometimes even futuristic solutions that the retailer can put into action in the real world.

While you may not have the resources to build your own lab, that doesn’t mean you can’t innovate in your company. Sometimes, simply instilling the spirit of innovation into your culture can do wonders for your business.

How can you do this? You can start by urging your team to think of creative and forward-thinking ways to solve problems. Go beyond traditional methods and strive to think of “next generation” solutions for the issues you have.

Encouraging collaboration between different departments can also spark innovation. Allow your team to put their heads together and combine their expertise to come up with new methods to move your business forward.

One retailer that did this well is Discount Tire. The company wanted to reinvent their customer’s shopping experience, and to do that, it teamed up with SAP and “embarked on a journey of discovery.”

According to the SAP case study:

In order to acquire a first-hand understanding of the customer experience, the SAP Mobility team from Palo Alto went on site to observe the operations at Discount Tire’s stores. To further explore options on how to assist Discount Tire with their store operations and wait times, SAP conducted a two-day Design Thinking workshop with Discount Tire to examine how mobility might improve wait time.

“This was really an eye-opening experience and enabled Discount Tire to look at their business in a different way. Discount Tire felt that their company needed to move forward in ways they had not previously considered”, recalls Shelley Schwartz, Retail Executive Solution Engineer at SAP. The second day was dedicated to a more open-ended problem finding; that is discovering unknown needs and generating ideas for their business in the future.

As you can see, the simple act of observing your existing operations and encouraging people to think creatively can bring about new ideas and solutions. That’s why if it makes sense for your company, consider implementing this exercise in your business. Get various teams together in a room and encourage them to think of out-of-the-box solutions for problems that your company or customers are facing. Who knows? You might just come up with an innovative solution to apply in your business. And if you don’t, then you and your staff would have at least gotten the chance to collaborate and learn from one another.

What is marketing?

Marketing is a strategic mix of activities that aim to build your business’s brand. Having a strong brand helps potential customers to easily identify your business and connect with it.

If you have a logo, a slogan or a website you’re already using marketing in your business, but marketing is about more than just fancy logos and glossy brochures.

Marketing is also about:

• how your business is positioned in the market – for example, are you a budget provider or a high-end shop?
• the products and services you sell – for example, what do you sell? How is it packaged?
• your customers – for example, are they budget-conscious shoppers?

To attract and keep new customers, you need to understand the process of marketing. There are a number of ways to market your business. Which will work best for you will depend on where your target market is.

Start with a marketing plan

A marketing plan can help you think about what you need to do to effectively market your business.

A good marketing plan helps you:

• determine your vision – what you aim to do through marketing
• identify your customers
• boost your customer base
• identify your competitors
• develop a marketing strategy to make your business stand out.

Some examples of things that you should include in your marketing plan are:

• who your target customers are
• your pricing model for your goods and services
• your advertising plan.

Developing a marketing plan requires research, time and commitment, but it is a very valuable process that can greatly contribute to your business’s success.

Ways to market your business

Before you advertise your business, there are a number of things you’ll need to consider, including:

• Your target customer – who do you expect will buy your products and services? If you’re not sure who your target customers are, have a look at who currently buys your products and services and who your competitors are targeting. When marketing your business, find ways to make sure your advertising is reaching them.
• Where to advertise – how do your current customers find you? Where do your target customers look to find services? Use this knowledge to your advantage by targeting these areas.
• Your budget – how much should you spend on advertising? Advertising can be expensive, so make sure to pick options that will give you the best bang for your buck. Remember, the cheapest option is not always the best option! The best option will be whatever is most effective for your business.

Market your business with traditional media

Advertising your business in traditional media can play a big part in your overall marketing strategy.

It involves marketing tools such as:

• paid print advertisements
• commercials on TV and radio
• articles in media outlets, such as magazines, newspapers or billboards.
• The cost and audience you can reach through advertising on traditional media can vary widely, so it’s important to make sure you choose the best fit for your business.

Market your business online

With the internet and social media platforms at our fingertips, going online can be a fantastic way to market your business. To get started on marketing your goods or services online, you could:

Create a website or blog for your business – having a website or blog is a great way to keep your customers up to date on your business, product and services. A good website or blog will provide your customers with interesting and relevant information that keeps them coming back for more.

Use social media – using social media platforms for your business can help you to engage with your customers in a relaxed and friendly way. Linking to your business website in social media can also be a great way to increase visits and generate interest.

Find out more

• Go to our marketing information to find out the benefits of good marketing.
• Learn more about marketing by checking out our 5 Ps of marketing.
• Download our marketing plan template and guide to help you write your own marketing plan.
• Check out how to take your business online and find out how to give your clients and customers a place to find out what you do.
• Get involved in social media and connect with your clients and customers.

If you’re not already providing personalized journeys in one way or another, it’s imperative that you start. Consumers are becoming more and more particular about the retailers they choose to shop with (in part because of the immense surplus of choices), and they’re much more likely to buy from a retailer that makes them feel like unique individuals.

Think about it: if Retailer X offers a broad, generic experience for the masses and Retailer Y caters to your specific needs through email marketing, tailored promotions, and custom recommendations based on your purchase history, who would you choose to patronize with your hard-earned dollars?

In this quick cheat sheet, we’ll help you become Retailer Y by outlining some easy actions you can implement to increase customer satisfaction and to give your business’s personalization game a boost. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get personal!

1. Map out the customer journey.

Most retailers run omnichannel businesses now — and with so many different aspects to your operations, it can be both difficult and overwhelming to find ways to personalize every step. The best way to combat that? Break it all down by mapping out your customer journey.

First, identify any point by which a potential customer could learn about or become familiar with your brand. On which channels do you maintain a presence (ecommerce store, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)?

Here’s a shortlist of channels you might need to consider:

• Brick and mortar location(s)
• Pop-up shops
• Ecommerce store
• Mobile site/app
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• Snapchat
• Web advertising

Once you’ve listed these, work outward from there. Imagine each channel as the center of a web — and keeping your omnichannel and brand strategies in mind so you don’t compromise your overall business vision, focus on each channel individually and think critically about ways you can personalize it.

Take this Facebook ad from fashion retailer Gingham and Heels. This showed up on my feed recently, and I noticed two things: the welcome promotion and the location-specific shipping information. That’s a start!

After mapping out the basic journey, think about where a customer would go after reaching any of the relevant channels. Imagine a path such as: enter online store → see pop-up encouraging him or her to sign up for your email list (perhaps incentivized by a promotion?) → browse products and add one or more to cart → begin checkout process → register for an account with your business or purchase as a guest → finalize purchase → receive confirmation email → receive shipping email.

It’s possible (and even probable) that many steps won’t be amenable to personalization — and that’s okay. Focus on the areas in which personalization can make the biggest difference. In the example above, that’s probably in the email list pop-up, the option to register for an account, and the confirmation and shipping emails.

Journey mapping is the first and most general step in incorporating personalization more fully into your business. Now, let’s get down to specifics.

2. In email marketing, go beyond the name.

Most customers now recognize that “personalized” emails (i.e. “Hi Stephanie!”) are automated — in effect making them impersonal. In fact, if this is as far as you go, you risk actually irritating customers (“Ugh, I can’t believe they think I’d actually fall for this”) and losing business.

So go beyond the name. Use other identifying factors (age, location, gender) to personalize the shopping experience. (The Gingham and Heels ad I mentioned above exemplifies the most basic form of location personalization.)

Now, it’s a lot easier to do this when you’ve already collected this information from your customers (so put a system in place to do this at checkout: both in-store and online). But if you don’t already have this data, there are still ways to go beyond simply inputting a first name in your email marketing.

Side note: don’t underestimate the power of pop-ups on your website. Offering incentives in exchange for information is a proven way to gather the data necessary for effective personalization. Take a look at the below examples from New Zealand companies Flo & Frankie and the Bread and Butter Letter, and try to incorporate something similar on your site.

Our suggestion to make the most of email marketing? Go with one of the myriad email campaign services out there. Marketing companies such as Campaign Monitor and MailChimp provide you with the tools you need to effectively segment your customer base and send the emails most likely to convert them.

(Want some stats on the success of segmentation? A recent study by DMA found that the technique accounted for 58% of their clients’ revenue, and research by Campaign Monitor states that “marketers who used segmented campaigns noted as much as a 760% increase in revenue.”)

MailChimp’s visual demonstration of their personalization services:

FURTHER READING: Learn how to grow your subscriber list, increase engagement, and make more sales through powerful email marketing. Download our guide for free!

3. Use purchase histories to offer tailored recommendations.

There are few better indications of a customer’s taste and preferences than what he’s previously bought, so purchase histories are one of the most important forms of data you can accrue.

The best way to use purchase histories to your advantage is to offer tailored recommendations in the form of personalized emails, promotions, or ads. And like we mentioned in tip 2, you can do this by using one of the many available services dedicated to just this practice.

MailChimp can again help here — but so can services such as Google AdWords.

Let’s look at an example:

Some time ago, I received this email from Sephora. I’d already purchased several Origins products, so they were clearly using my purchase history to target me for a current product.

This tailored promotion hits several high notes: it uses my name (with the added bonus of making it aesthetically pleasing), plays to the sense of exclusivity associated with being one of their VIB or VIB Rouge members, and emphasizes the “free” nature of the gift — thereby prompting me to head to the website and make another purchase in order to receive it. Nailed it!

4. Take a cue from the subscription service model.

Subscription services such as Birchbox, Ipsy, and Graze cater to personal tastes in a way that’s unmatched by traditional retailers. In most cases, they ask you to complete a quick quiz at the beginning of signup so they can tailor your boxes to things you like. Then, they take all the work out of shopping, picking products for you based on your existing preferences — and even helping you discover new favorites in the process.

It’s obviously not realistic or even desirable to expect all the world’s retailers to switch to a similar model. There is, however, one particularly important lesson traditional retailers can learn from subscription services in terms of personalization.

The more you can make a single customer feel like you care about him on a detailed level (his preferences, his behavior, his dislikes), the more likely he is to buy from you and to keep coming back.

Sounds like Retailer 101, right? It is, but subscription services really take it to the next level. By asking customers right off the bat what they like, what they don’t like, what they’d like to try, and what they’re not at all interested in, you make them feel cared for and unique.

You’re cultivating a relationship with them in which they develop an attachment to you. They start to feel like they can’t get the same treatment or experience anywhere else — and as long as you follow through on your promise of granular personalization, those feelings will be validated. The end result? Loyal customers and increased revenue.

5. Retarget.

If you shop online, there’s nearly a 100% chance you’ve seen ads for a retailer after visiting that retailer’s website. This is called retargeting (or remarketing), and it’s a seriously effective personalization technique.

Retargeting works in one of two ways: by pixel or by list. Pixel-based retargeting uses cookies to track when someone visits your ecommerce store and then “retargets” you with ads on social media such as Facebook or Twitter. You can use third-party services to integrate pixel-based retargeting into your personalization campaigns.

List-based retargeting isn’t quite as easy to implement as pixel-based retargeting. Why? Because it requires the retailer to compile email addresses or phone numbers. The big pro to list-based retargeting, though, is that you have much more control over the existing or potential customers you’re reaching. You already have their contact information (and you know the preferences of some or most of them thanks to their purchase histories), so you can be fairly certain you won’t be bothering or irritating them with irrelevant ads.

Retargeting is an excellent way to keep your brand top-of-mind for those who’ve already browsed your website or shopped in your store, as well as for the key demographics you’re looking to reach.

Two other important things to consider when you’re retargeting?

The medium: Where are you focusing your retargeting efforts? Do some research into your ideal markets, and find out which channels they use most frequently. Do they favor Facebook and Instagram over Twitter and LinkedIn? Whatever the case, concentrate your retargeting energy on the mediums that’ll give you the most in return.

Dynamic content: No two of your target group are exactly alike — so instead of showing one ad to the whole group, super-personalize ads by taking advantage of dynamic content. Dynamic content morphs depending on the circumstances of a given user: age, gender, location, browsing behavior, etc.

Check this out:

I recently visited Hachette’s website to find out more about this exact book. A couple of days later, this ad popped up on Facebook — dynamically marketed both to my location and browsing history.

The bottom line

Personalizing the customer experience is already essential, and it’s just going to keep ascending in importance in customers’ minds. You need to have a well-researched and thoroughly planned strategy to fully capitalize on this trend — so will you be implementing some of our tips? Is there anything you’ve tried with regard to personalization that you can call a success? Take to the comments to let us know!