We're back, and we're in conversation with Joey Coleman, the famous author of the bestselling novel "Never Lose A Customer Again."
Behind every successful brand, there's an army of loyal customers, and Joey Coleman is an expert when it comes to turning any sale into lifelong loyalty. Joey has been helping businesses build customer loyalty for almost 20 years now. He's a bestselling writer, teacher, advisor, and incredible speaker.
Tune in to this episode of The Ecom Show to hear Daniel Budai and Joey talk about:
✔️ Joey Coleman's Eclectic Career Path
✔️ The 8 Phases of A Customer Journey
✔️How to Analyze Customer Feedback
Joey had a unique career path. He studied international and national security law in college and went on to serve the nation by working in the United States Secret Service. He also worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and eventually made his way up to serving as counsel to the US president himself.
From working as a salesperson to a criminal defense lawyer to teaching in a postgraduate class and eventually starting his own ad agency, Joey's worn several career hats over the years. But what's interesting is that he found a common thread that connected the experiences he gathered from all his jobs over the years. And the thread that connects all of them is, in each of those positions, the way you advanced or were rewarded was by having a keen understanding of the human condition. Why do humans do the things they do? What can we do to convince them or persuade them or encourage them to do the things we'd like them to do? And so as all of those experiences and kind of different career paths meld that together.
Joey found himself really focusing on human psychology as it related in a business context to customers. He applied this to his own ad agency and began researching how he could help his clients retain the customers he worked so hard to acquire for them.
This search led him on a decade-long journey in uncovering why customers leave and what can be done to convince them to stay. This search has formed the foundations for his book, business consulting, and speeches over the years, and he's now a well-renowned customer retention expert.
In Joey's bestselling book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," he talks about the 8 phases of a customer journey. These phases show businesses how they can convert any customer into a lifetime buyer. Here's a quick run-through of these phases and how they relate back to e-commerce:
1. Assess: This is when a prospect is assessing whether or not they want to become a customer. In common parlance, we think of this as marketing and sales. They're looking at your website and your marketing materials; they're in some sales conversations with you. They're in the decision-making process to figure out if they want to become a customer.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
E-commerce businesses need to ensure that their website checks all the boxes a customer would look for. Have ample reviews, product information, a variety of photos, links to social media, and helpful resources to make your customer feel comfortable with your website.
2. Admit: This is when a prospect admits that they have a problem or a need that they think you can help them solve. They sign on the dotted line, and they hand over their hard-earned cash. This is day one of the first 100 days process.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
This is where customers are on your checkout page. E-commerce businesses need to focus on providing an easy checkout process. This means giving customers a choice to sign up through social media, providing guest checkout, and making sure there are enough payment options available.
3. Affirm: In common parlance, we call this buyer's remorse, where they begin to doubt the decision that they just made to work with you. Now in most businesses, we're celebrating because we got a new client, we're really happy. Meanwhile, at the client's office or at the customer's home, they're saying, Ooh, did I make the right purchase? I was looking at a couple of options. And I chose this one. But what if it's not right? Well, I'd be able to get my money back when I get in trouble. How will I do this? And that difference in our emotional high in the customer's emotional low or uncertainty. If we don't address that, we're in real trouble.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
This phase involves keeping customers in the loop! It involves sending out order confirmations and shipping updates.
4. Activate: This is the first real moment of truth when they receive the product. We want to energize the relationship. We want to let them know that doing business with us is going to be unlike any business experience they've ever had.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
In this phase, e-commerce businesses need to start thinking of ways to engage with customers who have just received their products.
5. Acclimate: This is the phase where most businesses lose their customers. In the acclimate phase, our job is to hold our customers' hands to help them acclimate to our way of doing business to get used to our way of doing business.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
Find ways to make sure that customers are actually using the product they bought. There are a bunch of ways to do this! You could send them an email showing them how to use your product or even personalize it by sending customers a survey asking them about why they made the purchase.
6. Accomplish: This phase is all about helping your customers accomplish the goal that they had in mind when they did business with you.
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
In this phase, e-commerce stores need to check in with their customers and see that their customers are actually making the most out of their purchases. It involves sending out recommendations based on their previous purchase or simply asking for feedback.
7. Adopt: This phase is where the customer becomes loyal to us and only us; they're not looking at the competition; they've adopted the relationship, and they're committed to continuing to do business with us in the future. And if and only if we've gotten through all seven of those phases, do we get to the last phase, the final phase, the holy grail Nirvana, the thing everybody's striving for, which is the advocate phase!
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
E-commerce businesses need to continue the conversation and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers by checking in and providing them with value-based content to keep them engaged.
8. Advocate: When customers are loyal enough to go and refer your brand to people around them. Most businesses want to jump to that phase eight right away. They want to get the customer signed up and then say, Well, who else do you know that might need our product? Or, hey, there are some other things we want to sell you and have you join up and participate in it as well. We need to pace ourselves and take time to work through each of the eight phases to earn the trust and comfort of the customer before asking them to become brand advocates!
What do e-commerce businesses need to look out for in this phase?
This phase comes naturally after a customer passes through the first seven phases! A returning customer is more likely to be a brand advocate as compared to a new customer. They're easier to get referrals from and to upsell. It's important for businesses to value these customers by treating them to discounts and special deals.
Customer feedback is crucial, but it's hard to learn from feedback when your customers aren't being 100% honest. Customers might find it difficult to be critical if they have a personal relationship with your brand. This is why it's important to create honest spaces for customers to freely communicate how they're feeling. Here are Joey's tips for getting customer feedback:
That's all for today's episode. Make sure to check out Joey Coleman's website if you'd like to learn more about him.
You can also check out his book, "Never Lose A Customer Again," to learn more about the 8 phases of a customer journey.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out episode 109, where Shep Hyken shares some more golden nuggets on creating a memorable customer experience.
You can also click here to check out the rest of our episodes.
Thanks for tuning in! See you back here next Thursday.
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