Every marketer worth his or her salt has considered their consumers’ purchase funnels, paths-to-purchase, or customer journeys. Understanding of your customer, what their needs are, how they engage with and shop your category, and how your brand can help them at each stage of the above is critical for every part of your business, from brand positioning to product development to marketing to sales and beyond.
Unfortunately, so many organizations view the goal of the journey as to complete a sale. And because of that, their so-called “consumer-centric” marketing essentially ignores the consumer, post-conversion. Which is a problem. Because a sale and conversion are, in many ways, just the beginning.
Post-acquisition engagement is as important as driving sales. The post-purchase user experience drives satisfaction, repeat purchases, long-term brand loyalty, and recommendations. Short-changing your marketing and the customer experience once customers buy your product or service is short-sighted. Fostering higher lifetime value from those you’ve already convinced to buy is a lot simpler – and more valuable – than convincing more and more people to choose you.
If all you do is focus on conversion, you’ll end up with a leaky bucket. And an exhausting, all-encompassing need to constantly replenish it.
Michael Baer's Stratecution Stories 