It takes time and care to build positive relationships with customers. You have to earn their trust.
And their loyalty can be fleeting. With one or two wrong moves, you can lose a valued customer forever.
To prevent that from happening, here are five all too common marketing errors you should make every effort to avoid.
- Your website or app doesn’t work properly and makes the customer journey difficult.
In today’s digital age customers are in hurry. They want what they want fast—and don’t like to have to work for it. When it’s difficult for them to find a phone number or a link to respond to an offer—or to make a purchase—chances are good they’ll go elsewhere.
Which is why it’s so important to make all order and response information on your marketing communications easy to see and access.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile yet, don’t waste any more time getting up to speed.
Recent statistics show why having a strong mobile presentation is so important. As of
Aug. 2017, there are now more mobile internet users than desktop internet users—3.5
billion globally. And mobile devices influenced sales to the tune of over $1.4 trillion in 2016.
So it’s essential that your site delivers the best possible user experience on mobile devices.
- Your customer experience doesn’t live up to your marketing hype.
If you claim the product or service you’re selling will save your customer up to 40%—or perform 30% faster than the competition—it better deliver on that claim. Nothing kills consumer confidence in a brand faster than unfulfilled promises. In marketing, it’s always better to under promise and over deliver.
- Your offer is too complicated or difficult to redeem—or it has many too many restrictions.
If you’re running a promotion, keep it simple and avoid too much fine print. Make sure it’s easy for the customer to act on it. A promotion should be a rewarding experience, not a frustrating one.
If your legal team insists on lots of fine print disclaimers, go back to the drawing board and find a simpler promotion. Or don’t run one at all.
- You treat all your customers the same.
Reward your longstanding and volume customers differently than your occasional buyers. Offer them rewards programs, discounts, premiums—anything that makes them feel special and valued. Show them you appreciate their loyalty and patronage.
- Your brand touchpoints—the various ways customers experience your company—are inconsistent.
How many times have you waited longer than 5 minutes for a customer service representative to pick up the phone, only to discover that they aren’t equipped to help you with your problem? Or maybe they’re just plain rude.
Make sure the people you hire embrace your brand values and are committed to the success of your company—and see to it that all aspects of your operation live up to the promises you make in your marketing.
With proper planning and execution, all aspects of your marketing—from online communications to customer relationship management—can work together to create the best possible impression.
Your customers are your most valuable asset. Everything you do should reinforce that.
Not sure whether or not you’re making errors in your marketing?
We’re here to help, so feel free to contact us.
If you’re sure you’re not—and have a marketing tip you’d like to share—please add your
comments.
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