Guest Blogger Melinda Parks: Invest in Creating the Best Customer First Impressions
As marketers, it really seems like a "no brainer" that we should focus on building relationships with new customers as they enter our business or service. Even beyond our profession, I expect that as a customer myself. The phrase that was always engrained in me as a child is, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."
Yet, when you think about marketing investment dollars, the allocations can sometimes go like this in those tedious budget meetings:
"Let's spend our money trying to get new customers--we need more sales!" versus focusing on retaining to acquire and leveraging the positive word of mouth from our existing customers. To me, there seems to be a gap in a more distributed allocation of where we spend our marketing dollars. At Sprint, we have woken up and realized that if you create that best-in-class on-boarding experience, you not only really get to know your customers right off the bat, but because of that relationship-building, you reap the benefits later down the lifecycle by retaining your customers and driving satisfaction because they trust and can depend on you.
Let's take a purchase example like your wireless phone. As consumers, we spend countless hours determining what type of phone we should get. What are the bells and whistles? Who has the best coverage so I can use it? When I need service, will I get it? Will they value me as a customer and reward me? Lots of questions to think about and countless hours of time trying to figure out whom you should choose and for what reason. Customers do their homework and make that trip to the store for the big purchase. So far, seems pretty painless. After all, that little device, the size of a candy bar, is in your hand and you are ready to conquer the world!
For some of us non-technical folks, this is where the relationship begins to go south. You walk out the door and become frustrated from day one. "How do I get the weather in one click like I saw on that cool commercial?" "No one ever told me what my first bill would look like." "Overage charges, what are those?" Think of how great the relationship could be if you took the time to educate the customer and start the relationship before the customer even walks out the door? In an ideal world, we would make sure every customer walked out the door understanding the power at their finger tips.
If you allocate marketing dollars toward customers' on-boarding experience, you would see the ROI from that investment in less new customers leaving, the honeymoon period extended, and higher word of mouth that attracts new customers. Don't neglect having a clear treatment protocol from day one from a marketing perspective for those new customers that are so precious to get. A well-thought-out strategy and plan across the customer's lifecycle can really help a business cultivate their relationships with their customers.
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Melinda Parks is director of marketing for Sprint
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