Winning customers for life.  As an online retail business owner, the one thing I long to hear is the “I’ll be back again” statement  customers make after purchasing from my online store.  And then seeing them make follow up sales?  That is when you know you are are doing something right.  

Anybody can process and ship orders.  But not many do it fast, efficient and keep the customer notified along the way.  I recently was talking to a man who purchased a special order BMW direct from the factory in Germany. Now I can’t verify if what he told me is true or not, but I will assume it is.  BMW not only let him know precisely the status of his order was, they let him know the status during each step of the build and ship steps.   I find this hard to believe, but they even had a site he could go to and watch it being built.    Now to me that seems over the top and maybe this guy was “exagerating” a bit.  But let’s assume  he wasn’t.    The level of service and more importantly “being informed” was what made this guy a customer for life.  And we can apply it to your online operations as well.

Not many of us, myself included, has a sophisticated process for order fulfillment.  But that does not mean that we should just ignore that the same steps that the big guys use, aren’t occurring anyways.  They are.  Just in a different way.  We all have the order placement, the order funding, the picking, the packaging, and the shipping.  In our case, it just happens all together.  But notifying the customer at each major step is critical in that it lets the customer know you are there, and that their order is a priority to you. 

Here are some of the steps I use:

1.  Automated email at time of order confirmation. This lets the customer know I received their order.

2.  Personal email at the time I have picked up, packaged and prepared their order for shipment.  I introduce myself, thank them for their order, let them know their order is packaged and ready to ship.  I let them know their tracking number, and when the item is expected to ship.  In the package I include a couple of inserts (e.g. coupons for next visit), return policy and information, as well as a small handful of hard candies as a special thank you.

3.  The day the item ships, another personal email to confirm that the item shipped, and a personal thank you.  I also let them know that I will be tracking their package to ensure its safe delivery and let them know that if they have any issues at all with their order to please contact me personally.

4.  A few days after the package has been received, I send a quick followup to make sure that their order was well received, and to offer them a special 10-20% discount that they can use on the next order within x amount of days (usually 30 days). 

Some people might think this is excessive.  I do not.  Most customers who order online, get a order confirmation and do not hear anything for a day or so and then maybe (just maybe) they get an order tracking email.  That is what my online buying experience as a customer has seen is the norm.  I do not want to be the norm. 

This is just one example of how you can win customers for life.  What I really would like to know, is what techniques or tips can you share that are successful for you?  Please feel free to share.