Today’s consumers are obsessed with getting the best bang for their buck. And with the fact that you’ll always have a competitor offering the same products and services as yours, what can make customers choose you over others?
Value.
Contrary to popular belief, there are several factors beyond the price which consumers consider when deciding who to purchase from. Value is often at the top of the list. So, you need to come up with creative ways in order to demonstrate value to customers and making purchasing decisions easier.
- Share Relevant and Valuable Content
Sharing knowledge and information in your area of expertise will always gain positive responses. Relevant and value-driven content allows you to establish yourself as the authority and expert, improving customer loyalty and brand credibility.
The types of content that you can offer include:
- Original Content
Create educational content, such as articles, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, podcasts, and others. You can send these via email, share them on social platforms, and publish them on your blogs in order to keep customers engaged.
- Influencer Content
Influencer marketing is booming, and you can take advantage of it to create valuable content for your users. Recommendations from authorities, celebrities, and experts are a popular way to promote a service or product.
You can provide influencers with trial versions of your services or a free sample of your products. They can publish why and how to use your products, record an unboxing, or write a review.
Another way is to sponsor a giveaway or contest that influencers host so they can use your product or service as a prize. You can even invite relevant influencers to your office and have them create engaging content like behind-the-scenes videos.
By partnering with an influencer to create valuable content, you can help reduce the effort of your users in finding reliable products, avoid issues, and finding the best product for their needs.
- User-Generated Content
These are the brand-related content from users. For your audience, user-generated content can encourage purchases in at least 79% of cases. For your consumers, publishing user-generated content can make them feel heard and appreciated.
Users can publish the content directly on the brand’s social pages or on their own, in which the brand asks permission to share and post it on their corporate pages or website. This can be a repost on social media or the publication of testimonials and user stories on their website.
- Customer Surveys
Surveys help you understand what your customers think or perceive of your brand. This should provide you insights on what customers like about your products, what can be improved, as well as building bridges with your customers, making it useful for use case data and can be used in combination with user stories (check out the differences here), mentioned previously.
In addition, customer surveys help you understand your customer better. Empathy starts with active listening. And by deploying customer surveys, you listen to your customers and find out what they want. This shows how you care about their opinions and providing them a way to engage with you.
- Provide Special Offers
Gifts and special offers are always welcomed. Customers love them. So, you want to create such motivational programs that bring value to your products and encourage consumers to purchase from you.
- Discount
You can offer discounts to your high-spending customers. You can provide price slashes during the off-season or holidays to attract customers and boost sales. Discount offers can also cover regular purchases, multiple purchases, or complementary services and products.
- Free Trials
Free trials are also attractive for the curious consumer. Research suggests that 11% to 30% of people who used a trial later became customers with a paid account. Customers will always want to scrutinize what they’re investing in before buying something. Free trials can allow users to realize the value of your service or products without spending money.
- Co-Branded Offers
Partnering with another brand for special offers, you can gain exposure to a new audience while creating value for your existing customers. If you offer relevant services and goods with this collaboration, your customer and the new audience will feel that you know their needs and want to provide excellent service.
- Have a Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs simply mean showing your appreciation to new and existing customers for their purchases and loyalty by offering special rewards, discounts, and other incentives.
They help encourage repeat businesses, offering customers a reward for their loyalty. In general, the more often a customer buys or patronizes the brand’s products or services, the greater their rewards are.
The two most common types of loyalty programs you can offer are:
- Tier-Based
Customers get rewards or benefits according to their membership level. Purchasing more frequently or spending more can move customers to a higher level. As they progress, they also get bigger discounts, advanced offers, or specialized services.
- Point-Based
For every purchase, subscription, feedback, or just about any task, a customer will gain points that they can use for their future purchases.
- Personalized Experience
Studies show that consumers want personalized brand experiences. By customizing your marketing, products, and services to the needs and behaviors of your customers, you can increase customer satisfaction significantly.
There are various ways you can provide a personalized experience to your customers. You can use a customer’s name when communicating with them, whether email or personal.
You should also keep customer’s data which can help greatly when customizing for a specific customer. For instance, keeping track of a customer’s birthday, you can congratulate them on time and even offer them birthday offers and discounts.
You can also use customer’s data to find out past purchasing behaviors to recommend new products that they may like. You can also use it to offer suggestions for complementary or similar purchases to customers as they browse services or products.
Conclusion
Although businesses mostly focus on closing a deal, you also need to be caring instead of hard-selling all the time. In this world where consumers have several options to choose from, you want to be the brand that stands out by offering value and satisfaction to customers.
