“Rather than focus on trying to get a lot of customers to market yourself, really focus more on the actual produce or service itself and existing users to, like, what would make happier, what would make them come back more and more times, or in our case buy more often.” – Tony Hsieh
Every business needs more customers who would buy consistently and increase their purchases with time. Companies must think of various elements that will inspire and nudge customers to buy more. It is necessary to influence buyer behaviour and their buying habits in favour of your company. People become buyers when they either do not have something or are dissatisfied with what they currently have. When people are dissatisfied, it affects their buying decisions, which make them look for a way to get what they want and do away with what dissatisfies them. Companies must look for ways to understand their customers and other target audience to know what customers want, expect, need, and the reasons for which they would or would not buy. Companies must be able to discover the pain areas of their customers, and then target their messages and products to alleviate that pain – a sure shot way to nudge customers to buy more.
Annoyance and dissatisfaction with the current products they may be using, gets customers moving and looking for a company that would serve them and give them what they want. This may sound simple, but this is a company’s chance to step in and reveal how it would be able to remove their pain and give customers exactly what they would need. To gain a better understanding into what customers may feel or think, a company should ask customers direct questions. The most basic one would be to find out exactly what customers may be displeased about in their current situation, and what motivated them to seek a change. Based on their answers, a company could put together solutions and ideas that would instantly address the concerns, and nudge customers to buy more.
In order to nudge customers to buy more from your company, it would be necessary to show them what your company can do right. Present customers with a picture of a better future with your company, by creating a positive image in their mind. By establishing what makes customers unhappy and presenting them with a promise of keeping them happy, your company would create motivation and reasons for customers to buy your products. We have mentioned before that one of the most important aspects of customer service is making things easier for customers and helping them in every way possible. Being helpful to customers increases their affinity and engagement towards a company, which in turn would encourage them to buy more, consistently. A company must remain proactive in assessing the needs of customers, such that it can provide for those requirements even before customers ask. Staying ahead of their needs is a great way to nudge customers to buy more.
When trying to get customers to buy more from you, it would be helpful to give them as much information as possible, including what your company’s competitors may be offering. This builds trust since customers would be able to make a balanced and informed decision regarding from whom they should buy. In addition, it portrays the confidence your company has in its offerings and service, making it even more attractive for customers. Your company could also provide customers with additional and value added information surrounding the product or service they seek to purchase. This information should be free of cost and irrespective of whether the customer decides to buy from your company or not. Providing such thoughtful service will ensure that even if a customer does not buy immediately, they would be very likely to remember your company when they do need to buy.
We know that the balance of power has shifted to customers. This is so because there are so many companies offering such a variety of products, and all are vying for the attention from similar groups of customers. While this may be great for customers, the fact is that it has also increased their risk when buying, since it would be hard to understand which company they can trust. In order to nudge customers to buy more it would therefore be necessary for companies to first build a personal rapport and increase engagement levels with customers to create trust. Building trust is not an overtime job and certainly not easy – takes considerable investment of time, effort, and resources to get the trust of customers. However, without trust it would be tough for companies to get customers to buy, let alone do so repeatedly. Smart companies understand the importance of trust and dependability, which ensures that they create several opportunities for customers to feel this way about them. Customers may like a product, but may not trust a company – this however, is not sustainable.
Complementing trust is the fact that companies must display value to customers of the products and services they sell. It is easy to speak incessantly about how great your company is, but to nudge customers to buy more, it would be essential to help them see how your company would work for their benefit. The company’s offerings must address their concerns and feelings, and make the lives of customers easier. It is all about showing customers that the company has their best interest in mind, and is capable of handling their expectations better than any other player in the ‘market’ would. While it may be hard to differentiate between offerings of various companies, it is easy for customers to perceive great service and a genuine effort to build and maintain relationships and enhance the quality of customer interfaces. Companies that are able to do this consistently will be able nudge customers to buy more, and would ensure that customers stay.
We know that with the rise of social media and other online channels of communication, customers are connected better than ever. They share information, check reviews, and discuss products and companies with a large group of people (who they may not even know). These discussions do influence the behaviour and feelings of existing and prospective customers – therefore a company must consistently do things and produce offerings that would be truly high quality. The more positive comments and ‘reports’ about a company, the greater the chances of it being able to nudge customers to buy more. Customers are no longer operating in a vacuum – they are part of large groups that are constantly networking and can prove to be extremely beneficial for companies that keep them happy with service and products.
As mentioned, customers want and need information all the time – and it is easily accessible to them now. However, a lot of the information on the net is either useless or too hard to understand, and it takes time to sift useful content from the irrelevant. In order to nudge customers to buy more from their company, it would be prudent for the company to provide customers with relevant, interesting, useful, and powerful content, which would enhance the customer’s business and personal lives. Doing so enables customers to respect the company’s knowledge, experience, and authority on subjects, which over time leads them to buy more and stay with a company.
Whatever your company decides to do, the result should be the ability to nudge customers to buy more, do so consistently, and create more customers for your company through positive word of mouth.
