Fresh Ways to Excite Your Customers
With as many options are out there and how quickly businesses are making strides in every direction, it can be hard to stand out. With this list, you’re sure to find a new way to excite your customers and get them to remember your brand or take action. Remember, positive emotions, like excitement, lead to positive customer behavior and higher levels of sharing.
Bring Them Something Amazing (Surprise)
The easiest way to excite your customers is to offer them something extraordinary or spectacular. Of course, as it’s for your customers and from your business, it should relate to your business, industry, or product.
This thing could be presented in the form of a contest and prize or a freebie for everyone. The possibilities are nearly limitless, but by offering something unexpected (and yet ideally suited to your business model), you can create an increase in engagement and goodwill, especially if your “surprise” is available to everyone.
For example, an author or publisher could offer a free digital copy of the first book in a popular series or a new series by the same author. A consulting firm could provide a basic, free evaluation for the first 20 prospects to take them up on the offer. Or a company that produces chicken coops and accessories could offer a free step-by-step video course to teach all of their customers proper chicken care and techniques.
Digital products are as valid as physical gifts. For a company, they are better as they can be nearly evergreen and won’t cost anything to give to new customers. In fact, they may lead to a growth in customer base.
photo/ Gerd Altmann
Entertain Them
When it comes to entertainment, there are two hot ways to go about it: video and podcasts. Your customers almost surely use video and want more of it from your brand. Similarly, if there are favorite podcasts in your niche, sponsoring one or two that your customers support is a great way to make a positive, unexpected connection.
Setting yourself up to record and send video to your customers isn’t as hard as you might think, either. It doesn’t even require an expensive setup. As simple as it is, you could also create video content on a weekly basis- either as a supplement or as an audio/visual alternative to plain text messages.
Video is an undeniably popular format. If you have any learning curve to your content, adding video to your strategy is a must- most people are visual learners and are used to being taught by example, on video.
If someone has a problem, they’re more likely to look it up on YouTube and only use a text guide as a last resort. In this case, it stands to reason that if you’re not producing helpful videos about your product or industry, someone else is or will.
Simplify
As counter-intuitive as it may sound, taking something away might be exactly what your customers want. Are there any barriers that you could remove for them? Could you make something, anything at all, easier?
Enhance Your Base Level of Personalization
Personalization speaks directly to your customers. The more prominent businesses do it, the more every customer will be just a little disappointed if they find out your brand doesn’t, not even a little bit.
Adding personalization to your current methods of communicating with your customers doesn’t have to be costly or time-consuming. You can leave most of the efforts to your customers in a few basic cases. Email, for example, is the most obvious.
Your current email funnel is probably pretty straightforward. If you only have a single product line or service, that may be all you need. As your business grows and your customer base becomes more diverse, a little more effort may be in order.
This may mean splitting or “segmenting” your list. Most email services offer simple tools to make this process easy. Instead of sorting customers manually, mainly if you collect a limited amount of applicable data, a set of emails asking customers to funnel themselves into smaller, more niche lists is typically sent.
photo/ Muhammad Ribkhan
Bulk Up Your Credibility
Everyone has some degree of skepticism, especially when it comes to making a purchasing decision. By providing credibility, you quell this instinct. Better than that, though, and more exciting to your customers, people like using something that’s popular. They like using the same things as essential companies and celebrities. If you have connections, allow your customers to feel like they do, too. Have a high-profile client that doesn’t mind you sharing? Highlight it.
Share Your Secrets
Transparency or good old fashioned, upfront honesty is the best policy. By being straight with your customers, you avoid future unpleasantness, especially in an age where most everything will, eventually, become public knowledge. Even if your company stumbles in some way, being forthright is typically seen as a virtue by most consumers. It may also prevent them from jumping ship in a “worst-case scenario.”
In the absence of any bad news to report, give your customers a look at your day-to-day. Demystify one of your processes. It might seem like every day to you, but it can be exciting and educational to them. Share a recipe. This type of “insider knowledge” can be made into a form of entertainment and will make your audience feel special.
Author: Ritchie Hedderman
