Expand Your Customer Portfolio to Drive Customer Success

The first four articles in this series focused on personalizing at the beginning of a visitor’s journey. They explored how to provide an engaging experience which would result in them taking the next step with you, moving them further down the funnel to become a customer. The next two installments will focus on the 360-degree view of the customer to drive customer success.

Expanding Your Customer Portfolio

Too many times is software purchased and used for a year only to end up “shelfware” a year later. We as software vendors hate to think that these products that we worked so hard on would end up like that, but it is a reality. So how can you, as a digital marketer, do your part to prevent your product from meeting this dismal fate? Continually drive customer success in every aspect of the business.

In marketing, this immediately translates to upgrade or renewal programs, or even customer success initiatives. The opportunity is much greater. As a digital marketer, we have so many more channels at our fingertips that we can deliver various messages through. While communities and forums lend themselves to helping customers use the products, we can focus on the opportunity to expand the portfolio to drive continued success.   

Tips to Get Started

1. Integrate your customer data with your personalization tool
By integrating your marketing automation system (MAS) or customer relationship management (CRM) system with your personalization tool of choice, you now have the data in one location, for easy segmentation based on profile and behavioral data.

2. Identify the user segment you would like to target
This will enable a more relevant message to be delivered.

3. Analyze traffic behaviors of target customers
This will uncover what your customers are interested in, where they are spending their most time, and how best to reach them.

4. Craft your message, ensuring a clear CTA to drive further engagement
This is a great opportunity to show how a customer can build upon their original investment, realizing operational efficiencies, and gain that competitive advantage. Take the opportunity to showcase products that are seamlessly integrated or that can be used in conjunction with their current offering. We can also use this as an opportunity to offer bundled promotions or even craft messages to help show how easy it is to use the product with others. We can even share what they will gain over their competitors by expanding their portfolio.

5. Identify the best channels to reach your customers
Will your customers see your message if it is only on your website? Is it enough? Can you reach them through other channels, such as advertising or social media? Don’t just rely on one channel, reach your customer where they are going, delivering a complimentary message driving their engagement and customer success.

Now you are ready to set up your campaign. But before you do, there is one final tip I would like to leave you with:

6. Continue to optimize your message
Personalization is not a set it and forget it type of exercise. As your customer continues to move through their journey, it is important to iterate on your message, further increasing their engagement. The more relevant the message, they more likely they will engage, leading to additional revenue for your company.

Happy Personalizing.