In the face of competition, companies need to focus on building a strong, long-term customer relationship. This relationship must be established from thefirst interactionwith the customer and must continue throughout the life of the product.
In the case of companies that sell their products through a network of distributors, it is all the more important to re-establish a customer relationship that is often lost to the distributors.
This is because your customers are no longer in direct contact with your company and may feel like they're just numbers.
If you sell directly to your users, this can be an opportunity to multiply your opt-in acquisition levers through new channels.
Having a strong customer relationship has major advantages for your company. Among other things, it builds customer loyalty and increases the customer life time value of your users. A loyal user is that much cheaper to acquire on other products than a new user.
In fact, according to a study by Bain & Company, it costs 5 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
From then on, here are the three steps to building a strong customer relationship throughout the product lifecycle. Ps: the digital product passport resulting from European regulations could be your next ally.
The first step is to re-establish the lost customer relationship: this is acquisition. This can be done in a number of ways, including:
In the case of a cosmetics company, for example, it could send an e-mail to its customers or future customers offering them a free skin diagnosis.
A spirits company can set up a tasting club for its customers, or offer wine and food pairings depending on the bottle purchased.
Finally, if you are a soft mobility company, you can offer a home repair service for your customers.
Companies that invest in customer relations generate on average 10% more revenue. (Source: Forrester Research, "The State of Customer Experience" (2022))
To improve the efficiency of your customer acquisition :
You can opt for more traditional methods that are still effective:
Your actions can focus on an already-qualified customer base and optimise the use they can make of your products. One of the key actions for targeting this customer base is product onboarding.
Product onboarding can be a great way to engage your users and provide them with the information they need to succeed. It's also one of the first contacts in your relationship with your customer.
You can opt for strategies such as :
By integrating an effective product onboarding strategy, you can improve your customers' experience and increase their satisfaction.
Once the customer relationship has been re-established, it is important to communicate with the customer throughout the life of the product. This helps to maintain contact and create a stronger relationship.
Communication can take several forms:
What's important is the combination of medium and timing.
A 10% increase in product life can lead to a 10-20% increase in revenue.(Source: McKinsey & Company, "The Economics of Product Durability" (2017)).
The aim of communication at the launch stage is to create a buzz around the product and generate interest among consumers. Your company can use various means of communication to achieve this objective, such as:
A multimedia company can use videos like stories to teach your customers how to use their product.
The aim of communication in the growth stage is to fidelise your consumers and encourage them to repeat their purchase. Your company can use various means of communication to achieve this mission, such as:
Cosmetics companies can propose promotional offers to encourage consumers to renew their purchases. Perfume companies, for their part, can, for example, offer discounts on in-store perfume refills to keep the bottle for as long as possible.
The aim of communication at the maturity stage is to maintain consumer interest and extend the life of the product.
You can use various means of communication to achieve this objective, such as :
In particular, a mobility company can offer its customers a 24/7 support service to extend the product's lifespan.
86% of consumers are more likely to recommend a business that offers excellent customer service. (Source: American Express, "2019 Global Customer Service Barometer")
The aim of communication in the decline stage is to drain remaining stock. Your company can use a variety of communication methods to achieve this goal, such as:
Companies in the household appliances sector can offer second-hand product resale services to give products a second life. This also makes it possible to start a new customer relationship loop with second-time users.
In the spirits sector, these companies can offer immersive experiences to create an emotional connection with consumers.
The aim is to build customer loyalty. Building loyalty over the long term is achieved by offering anexceptional customer experience and personalised support throughout the customer relationship.
70% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that delivers an exceptional customer experience. (Source: Forrester Research, "The Customer Experience: A Strategic Imperative for Growth and Competitive Advantage" (2018))
To offer your customers an exceptional customer experience and personalised support, you can :
Loyal customers spend on average 67% more than occasional customers.
(Source: Bain & Company, "The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Long-Term Value" (2009))
The digital product passport or DPP is a tool that can be used to build a strong customer relationship throughout the life of the product.
By collecting and sharing information about your products, including their features, performance and durability, PLR can help you better understand your customers' needs and expectations.
This understanding can then be used to personalise the customer experience, offer quality customer serviceand propose products and services more tailored to customer needs.
The DPP can be used to build a strong customer relationship particularly as part of:
Thedigital product passportcan be a powerful tool for building a strong customer relationship throughout the life of the product.
Pimster can help you build a strong customer relationship throughout the life of the product in a number of ways thanks to its post-purchase product passport.
Pimster can enable you to collect and manage information about your products centrally. This can help you better understand your products and their performance, which can then be used to improve the customer experience by personalising your interactions and extend the life of your products.
For example, Pimster helps a spirits company collectinformation about its customers, such as their whisky preferences, theirpurchase history and their reviews.
This allows them to personalise their recommendations with specific whiskies, such as peated whisky for a customer who has bought Scotch whisky.
Pimster can enable you to share product information with other stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers and partners. This can help you improve communication and collaboration throughout the life of the product.
In particular, this is the case for Gaya Bike, which collects information on the maintenance history of bicycles. This information is then used to recommend maintenance or repair services to customers.
Pimster can be used to personalise the customer experience based on collected usage data. For example, your business can use Pimster to recommend specific products or services to customers based on their purchase history or interests.
In particular, MyBlend collects information on customers' preferences, such as their skin type, buttoned-up routine or budget.
This information is then used to recommend specific products to users in the ranges that interest them. The company also collects customer reviews to improve the texture and application of its creams.
Pimster can be used to provide quality customer service by providing your customer service agents with information through the iinformation contained in the digital product passport. For example, a customer service agent can use Pimster to look up a product's maintenance history to diagnose a problem.
Brandt collects information about how customers use household appliances. This information is used to identify potential problems and provide more effective customer service.
Finally, you can use Pimster to offer additional products and services more tailored to your customers' needs. For example, our platform can enable you to identify your customers who are likely to be interested in an exclusive new product or service.
Focal thus collectsthe opinions of its customers and their consumption habits in order to offer them exclusively new products in other ranges, from headphones to new speakers. This enables la mettre to create a community of first-time users and improve their products for the growth phase on the market.
By following these different customer relationship strategies, your company can build a strong customer relationship throughout the life of the product.
The digital product passport remains a keystone for successful long-term customer relations.
Companies that invest in customer loyalty generate on average 25-95% more revenue. (Source: Forrester Research, "The State of Customer Experience" (2022))
This relationship will enable you to increase customer satisfaction, build customer loyalty and commit your company to a sustainable approach.