In a world where almost everything is digital, customers are constantly inundated with ads. This makes competition for the customer's attention fierce. It's vital that you're devoting your marketing dollars to the right customer communication channels if you want them to turn to you instead of the competition. When developing and perfecting a multi-channel marketing approach, remember that not all customer communication channels are created equally.
Some are more effective than others at connecting with your audience and driving traffic and sales. That's why you need to be sure you're paying attention to the channels that can do the most good, reach the most people, and, most importantly, drive conversion rates.
A multi-channel approach allows you to meet your customers where they are to make it easier for them to connect. But none of that matters if you neglect the most important ones, though. Let's take a look at the top three customer communication channels that need your attention and how HubSpot's Service Hub can help.
This is one that gets overlooked far too often despite being the most important. Not only does word of mouth continue to bring in sales without continued investment, but it brings in the most money too. Just a 5% rise in customer retention can increase profits by up to 75%. Did you know that only 4% of consumers believe that there's integrity in marketing practices? They're growing more skeptical of advertising and consciously trying to avoid being influenced by it.
That's where word of mouth advertising comes in. Customers do trust the recommendations of friends and family. In fact, 92% trust personal recommendations over advertising. 88% trust customer reviews just as much. If they trust each other, why not use that to your advantage?
More people are shopping online, but that means they have to gamble on if the product is what they want without seeing or touching it first. They count on their peers to inform them about quality. Someone they know who's used the product or service is perfect. Rave reviews are second best.
So, how do you make this knowledge work for you? First, provide real value and a great customer experience. 65% of consumers have left a brand over a poor experience. Not only does a good customer experience increase conversion by 400%, but it will also get people to recommend your brand naturally. If you provide a really great encounter and make them feel like you care, they're more likely to be loyal for years to come and rave about you to anyone who will listen.
Alternatively, there are ways to promote good word of mouth rather than leaving it to chance. You can create a loyalty program that rewards recommendations, make content they'll naturally want to share, or use influencer marketing. Customer loyalty is worth investing time, energy, and money into. It gets you more than just referrals — you'll have sales coming in over the customer's whole lifespan without spending ad money as they bring in more leads.
Using Service Hub, you can aggregate all your customer communication channels together in one place. This makes it easy to track issues, solve problems, and see what's working or needs improvement. It also integrates seamlessly with the HubSpot CRM so that you don't need to hunt down information on the customer in question.
You'll have their prior purchases, support tickets, and other data right at your fingertips. The easier it is for your team to be on the same page and easily view everything they need to know about the customer, the better the customer's experience will be. HubSpot's software is made specifically with the end goal of helping you serve loyal customers who promote your brand.
One great way to create a connection with your target audience is to start a podcast. For those who aren't aware, a podcast is like a pre-recorded radio show that you upload for the listener to stream or download whenever they want. It allows for the convenience of listening on their time, online or offline.
Podcasts have really started to pick up speed lately. They've been around for years, but they've recently begun to grow in popularity among the general public. As of last month, 32 million people listened to podcasts, and 18% of them listen daily. This is an excellent platform for meeting customers where they are. Consider making it one of your most important customer communication channels.
The relaxed format and audio medium allow listeners to connect with you better and build a relationship. Find out what content they want to hear from you and create it. Rather than having a script, just have an outline of points you want to cover. Then, you don't repeat yourself and you stay on topic, but it can also flow naturally and sound like an authentic conversation.
You can have a Q&A series or segment where you go over things people should know about your business. You can also answer questions from customers and other listeners. To generate feedback and leads, you can allow comments on your podcast or have a dedicated email address for questions and feedback for it. A podcast can add to your SEO efforts and work together with your other content and customer communication channels to provide more options and raise engagement.
Whatever podcast content you decide to make, hearing your voice and building a relationship will make the audience feel more connected to your brand. This all leads to more loyalty because they feel closer to you and have more ways to contact you directly.
You can use the Service Hub to collect questions to answer in future episodes in a myriad of different ways. The tools also allow you to track your leads to see where they came from. Lead attribution lets you discover where each visitor came from to see which marketing efforts are working for you, so you can find out if your podcast is generating leads. If you aren't getting much traffic from your podcast, you'll know to make improvements and collect customer feedback to learn why.
Email marketing was born in 1978 when the first marketing email was sent to 400 people and was responsible for $13 million in revenue. Ever since then, email marketing has continued to grow and thrive. Today, 91% of Americans online use email. Gaining qualified leads requires around seven touchpoints, and their inbox is an easy place to connect with them.
Engage with them. Offer them something for free in exchange for their email address. From there, you must provide value, or they won't want you in their inbox. Send newsletters with helpful information and coupons or other offers. Build a relationship with them and remind them why they signed up for emails.
Use the Service Hub in conjunction with the Marketing Hub to automate your marketing emails in advance. Have holiday emails and other promotional messages ready to send at the exact right time — entirely automated and hassle-free. You can also track engagement and actions taken by email audiences with the seamless experience these systems provide.
Eniture Technology specializes in helping e-Commerce merchants grow by providing useful information, digital marketing services, off-the-shelf apps that solve common problems, and custom programming services. If you're interested in accelerating the growth of your online sales, please contact us. You might also enjoy this free information on the 10 reasons why you should be using HubSpot to grow your e-commerce business.
