After-Sales: tips to improve your customer experience
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 5:12 am
Customer loyalty is an increasingly valuable asset for businesses. Therefore, it is worth adopting a post-sale strategy that is aligned with the target audience. By taking some precautions, it is possible to ensure that the post-purchase experience is as satisfactory as the previous stages .
This type of approach is increasingly important for companies that aim for long-term growth. Given that the cost of customer acquisition is increasing, it is necessary to find ways to retain the audience that already trusts your brand.
Thinking about optimizing the after-sales processes in your business, we have brought you some simple but efficient tips that you can start applying today. Come read them!
What is after-sales?
After-sales service, as the name suggests, refers to the period that occurs after the sale. Many companies neglect this aspect on a daily basis, but it is essential to keep customers loyal and satisfied.
When done well, an after-sales strategy can even latvia mobile phone number attract new customers . This is because those who received great service after purchasing from your company may recommend your products to their acquaintances.
After-sales service can vary from business to business. However, its principle is to strengthen the relationship with the customer, offering all the necessary support to meet their requests, answer questions and listen to suggestions or complaints. This increases the customer's satisfaction rate, due to the good experience with the brand.
How important is it to invest in after-sales in a company?
A good after-sales process can generate many advantages for the company. Therefore, it is worth standardizing it and ensuring quality at this stage. For example, through it, it is possible to delight your customer and leave them satisfied with the solutions you are offering.
Furthermore, this step is crucial to instill confidence in the consumer that your business is ready to solve any problem they may have . Another reason why after-sales service is important is the possibility of collecting ideas to improve your services.
For example, by asking for feedback from those who have already purchased from your store, it becomes easier to understand which steps are still not fully satisfying the consumer. This gives you the resources to invest in improvements that will actually bring good results.
Finally, as a consequence of all the reasons mentioned above, it is possible to increase customer loyalty and increase the average amount that each customer spends in your store, maximizing the company's profitability. Therefore, it is worth understanding how to implement this process.
How to implement a successful after-sales service?
Now that you know the reasons for implementing after-sales service in your business, how about discovering good practices to successfully implement this strategy? Continue reading and learn the essential steps for this task!
1. Keep in touch with the customer
There is no point in closing a sale and then abandoning or forgetting about the customer. Be genuinely interested in your customer. What does this mean? That you should not maintain formal contact after the sale.
Instead, make an effort to think like your customer. Every now and then, send a message to your customer asking if they need anything . Keeping in touch with them allows you to offer other products from your mix to complement the previous sale.
To know which item will be most useful to the consumer, you need to know your customer. Therefore, keep talking to them and map out new needs that can be met by what you sell.
At the same time, don't contact the customer just to sell more. You should seek a humanized relationship with them and offer help when they need it. Sending a card (or even a gift) on the customer's birthday, for example, is a simple action, but it makes them feel special and remembered.
Some marketing strategies can help you maintain constant contact with your customers. One of them is to feed your social networks with content that is relevant to your audience, also taking care to respond to comments and messages in private.
Another way is to send out newsletters periodically to your customer base. They will bring you the latest news about your business, as well as the latest content published on your blog or website.
2. Be organized
To provide good after-sales service to your customers, you must have all of their information organized, whether in a management system or in an Excel spreadsheet. Contact information and sales history are important for you to know what your customers' preferences are and to be able to contact them to strengthen the relationship.
Depending on the size of your business, a CRM can be a great help in this regard. With it, all the updated information about your business is centralized in one place. In addition to making it easier for employees to access this data, it prevents important information from getting lost along the way.
Another advantage of having management software is that it allows integration between different areas of the company. This keeps your team on the same page and your team can communicate better.
Furthermore, a CRM makes it easier for you to fulfill the promises you make to consumers, such as notifying them when a product arrives at the store, providing delivery information, etc. After all, this system can be integrated with your contact channels, allowing you to automate the sending of messages or schedule them for a specific date .
3. Offer support
After purchasing a product, the customer may have questions about its use or make a complaint to the company. In any case, your business must offer the necessary support to serve the consumer.
The first step in this direction is to make it very clear to the customer how they can contact your company in case of questions, complaints or suggestions. If the consumer has to keep searching for a phone number or email, this will harm their experience.
Furthermore, it is important to align expectations: inform the customer about the opening hours and how you can help. This way, the customer will not be anxiously waiting for a solution at a time when the company is not responding or for a problem that is not the brand's responsibility.
Depending on the size of your business, assign one person to be responsible for this contact or a team prepared to provide customer support .
The most important thing here is to qualify these professionals, but not only from the point of view of technical clarifications about your product. Also train emotional intelligence and friendliness skills so that they can offer a better quality service.
Finally, taking too long to respond can leave the customer dissatisfied. Ideally, once the customer contacts your company, the response time should not exceed 24 hours for emails. Some contact methods require a faster response, such as chat and WhatsApp.
Of course, regardless of the channel, the sooner you respond, the better. But we know that it’s not always possible to respond within 10 minutes, especially if the volume of requests is high. So, give the customer an estimated time frame, letting them know how long it will take to receive a response.
4. Conduct satisfaction surveys
The best way to know if you are offering a good service to your customers is to ask them. So, run satisfaction surveys periodically. Ideally, you should launch them after each service to understand what can be improved in your processes. In this regard, a customer service system can help.
Additionally, try to conduct a bit more extensive surveys from time to time to gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ perceptions of your brand . Send out an email with some important questions to find out what you need to improve in the customer experience.
Another option is to create a form on Google Forms with these questions. This will make it easier to analyze the responses. It is important to customize the questions according to your business model, but here are some questions you can ask:
From 0 to 10, how satisfied are you with our service?
From 0 to 10, what grade would you give our product?
Do you have any suggestions for improving our service?
This way, you get an overview of what your customers think of the service provided and, consequently, you have the possibility of implementing improvements to correct the errors made.
5. Seek partnerships
Contact companies that offer complementary services to what you sell. This way, you can create benefits and discount coupons for your customers.
If you have a hair salon, you can seek partnerships with a perfumery, for example. This way, your customers receive discounts on the store's products to maintain their beauty care.
The idea of seeking partnerships is to offer better conditions to your customers and create a relationship of trust with them . After all, you show that you always want to provide the best scenario for your audience, even after the sale is made.
6. Ask for feedback
Understanding what customers think of their shopping experience with your business isn't always easy. However, one way that can help is to ask for feedback. In other words, ask them to point out what they liked and what they didn't like during the shopping process .
From this, you will have more information to use in order to structure an optimized customer journey. To complete this step, you can use phone calls to request such feedback.
Furthermore, monitoring consumer reviews on apps, Google, and your own pages can help you understand potential points of dissatisfaction. So, keep track of these reviews to get this data.
7. Use special dates
Special dates are golden opportunities to add value to the consumer experience and provide effective after-sales service, maximizing your business results. By doing good deeds on festive days, you can delight your customers.
For example, Consumer Rights Day is a good opportunity to contact your lead and ask if they need any help from the company . You can also use other dates, such as birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day. In addition to phone calls, it is worth sending personalized emails.
This type of approach is increasingly important for companies that aim for long-term growth. Given that the cost of customer acquisition is increasing, it is necessary to find ways to retain the audience that already trusts your brand.
Thinking about optimizing the after-sales processes in your business, we have brought you some simple but efficient tips that you can start applying today. Come read them!
What is after-sales?
After-sales service, as the name suggests, refers to the period that occurs after the sale. Many companies neglect this aspect on a daily basis, but it is essential to keep customers loyal and satisfied.
When done well, an after-sales strategy can even latvia mobile phone number attract new customers . This is because those who received great service after purchasing from your company may recommend your products to their acquaintances.
After-sales service can vary from business to business. However, its principle is to strengthen the relationship with the customer, offering all the necessary support to meet their requests, answer questions and listen to suggestions or complaints. This increases the customer's satisfaction rate, due to the good experience with the brand.
How important is it to invest in after-sales in a company?
A good after-sales process can generate many advantages for the company. Therefore, it is worth standardizing it and ensuring quality at this stage. For example, through it, it is possible to delight your customer and leave them satisfied with the solutions you are offering.
Furthermore, this step is crucial to instill confidence in the consumer that your business is ready to solve any problem they may have . Another reason why after-sales service is important is the possibility of collecting ideas to improve your services.
For example, by asking for feedback from those who have already purchased from your store, it becomes easier to understand which steps are still not fully satisfying the consumer. This gives you the resources to invest in improvements that will actually bring good results.
Finally, as a consequence of all the reasons mentioned above, it is possible to increase customer loyalty and increase the average amount that each customer spends in your store, maximizing the company's profitability. Therefore, it is worth understanding how to implement this process.
How to implement a successful after-sales service?
Now that you know the reasons for implementing after-sales service in your business, how about discovering good practices to successfully implement this strategy? Continue reading and learn the essential steps for this task!
1. Keep in touch with the customer
There is no point in closing a sale and then abandoning or forgetting about the customer. Be genuinely interested in your customer. What does this mean? That you should not maintain formal contact after the sale.
Instead, make an effort to think like your customer. Every now and then, send a message to your customer asking if they need anything . Keeping in touch with them allows you to offer other products from your mix to complement the previous sale.
To know which item will be most useful to the consumer, you need to know your customer. Therefore, keep talking to them and map out new needs that can be met by what you sell.
At the same time, don't contact the customer just to sell more. You should seek a humanized relationship with them and offer help when they need it. Sending a card (or even a gift) on the customer's birthday, for example, is a simple action, but it makes them feel special and remembered.
Some marketing strategies can help you maintain constant contact with your customers. One of them is to feed your social networks with content that is relevant to your audience, also taking care to respond to comments and messages in private.
Another way is to send out newsletters periodically to your customer base. They will bring you the latest news about your business, as well as the latest content published on your blog or website.
2. Be organized
To provide good after-sales service to your customers, you must have all of their information organized, whether in a management system or in an Excel spreadsheet. Contact information and sales history are important for you to know what your customers' preferences are and to be able to contact them to strengthen the relationship.
Depending on the size of your business, a CRM can be a great help in this regard. With it, all the updated information about your business is centralized in one place. In addition to making it easier for employees to access this data, it prevents important information from getting lost along the way.
Another advantage of having management software is that it allows integration between different areas of the company. This keeps your team on the same page and your team can communicate better.
Furthermore, a CRM makes it easier for you to fulfill the promises you make to consumers, such as notifying them when a product arrives at the store, providing delivery information, etc. After all, this system can be integrated with your contact channels, allowing you to automate the sending of messages or schedule them for a specific date .
3. Offer support
After purchasing a product, the customer may have questions about its use or make a complaint to the company. In any case, your business must offer the necessary support to serve the consumer.
The first step in this direction is to make it very clear to the customer how they can contact your company in case of questions, complaints or suggestions. If the consumer has to keep searching for a phone number or email, this will harm their experience.
Furthermore, it is important to align expectations: inform the customer about the opening hours and how you can help. This way, the customer will not be anxiously waiting for a solution at a time when the company is not responding or for a problem that is not the brand's responsibility.
Depending on the size of your business, assign one person to be responsible for this contact or a team prepared to provide customer support .
The most important thing here is to qualify these professionals, but not only from the point of view of technical clarifications about your product. Also train emotional intelligence and friendliness skills so that they can offer a better quality service.
Finally, taking too long to respond can leave the customer dissatisfied. Ideally, once the customer contacts your company, the response time should not exceed 24 hours for emails. Some contact methods require a faster response, such as chat and WhatsApp.
Of course, regardless of the channel, the sooner you respond, the better. But we know that it’s not always possible to respond within 10 minutes, especially if the volume of requests is high. So, give the customer an estimated time frame, letting them know how long it will take to receive a response.
4. Conduct satisfaction surveys
The best way to know if you are offering a good service to your customers is to ask them. So, run satisfaction surveys periodically. Ideally, you should launch them after each service to understand what can be improved in your processes. In this regard, a customer service system can help.
Additionally, try to conduct a bit more extensive surveys from time to time to gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ perceptions of your brand . Send out an email with some important questions to find out what you need to improve in the customer experience.
Another option is to create a form on Google Forms with these questions. This will make it easier to analyze the responses. It is important to customize the questions according to your business model, but here are some questions you can ask:
From 0 to 10, how satisfied are you with our service?
From 0 to 10, what grade would you give our product?
Do you have any suggestions for improving our service?
This way, you get an overview of what your customers think of the service provided and, consequently, you have the possibility of implementing improvements to correct the errors made.
5. Seek partnerships
Contact companies that offer complementary services to what you sell. This way, you can create benefits and discount coupons for your customers.
If you have a hair salon, you can seek partnerships with a perfumery, for example. This way, your customers receive discounts on the store's products to maintain their beauty care.
The idea of seeking partnerships is to offer better conditions to your customers and create a relationship of trust with them . After all, you show that you always want to provide the best scenario for your audience, even after the sale is made.
6. Ask for feedback
Understanding what customers think of their shopping experience with your business isn't always easy. However, one way that can help is to ask for feedback. In other words, ask them to point out what they liked and what they didn't like during the shopping process .
From this, you will have more information to use in order to structure an optimized customer journey. To complete this step, you can use phone calls to request such feedback.
Furthermore, monitoring consumer reviews on apps, Google, and your own pages can help you understand potential points of dissatisfaction. So, keep track of these reviews to get this data.
7. Use special dates
Special dates are golden opportunities to add value to the consumer experience and provide effective after-sales service, maximizing your business results. By doing good deeds on festive days, you can delight your customers.
For example, Consumer Rights Day is a good opportunity to contact your lead and ask if they need any help from the company . You can also use other dates, such as birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day. In addition to phone calls, it is worth sending personalized emails.