Proven Strategies to Leave a Lasting Impression on New Customers

If the quality of a brand’s service or product were the single most important factor in being memorable, then so many businesses wouldn’t fail within the first several years of their existence. Sadly, customers have the tendency to judge brands by so much more and so much less at the same time. It’s enough for a business to have a poorly constructed website, and we will never discover the brand’s charitable initiatives because we’ll leave too quickly. Or for a brand to not visit ample networking events for so many partners to never get a chance to collaborate with them. 

Then again, in a sea of up-and-coming businesses, every single brand needs so much more than an impeccable website and hunger for networking to stand out and leave an impression that will last longer than a few seconds. Sometimes, the devil may be in the detail, at other times, you need to take different actions and use all the benefits of digital marketing to reach the right audience. Here are a few strategies to consider for impressing your new customers.

Research, research, research

They say that knowledge is power, or in this case, the power to dazzle. Customers no longer want brands to merely meet their expectations. You need to exceed and anticipate them, and take proactive action to make your business worthy of their attention for the long haul. It’s one thing to inspire a new customer to purchase something on sale, but a completely different thing to purchase it at its full price, because it comes with a certain promise your brand stands for. 

So, learn how to improve customer experience, what they prefer, how you can connect their desires to your brand in a meaningful, purposeful way. Perhaps the freedom to customize their product can make them feel like a part of the very creation of your brand. Or your donations to a dog shelter make them feel as if every purchase they make with your brand actually makes a difference. Know your audience to know how you can make your experience memorable. 

Remove any distractions

Both in digital and in-person interactions, distractions can pose a serious issue that most brands fail to address appropriately. For example, a website that has dozens of pop-ups, annoying and confusing ads scattered on every page may give off the impression of an untrustworthy entity, one that can hardly constitute a brand, but just a webshop. 

When you communicate in person with your new client, if you consistently interrupt them, sneak a peek at your phone, or generally allow for interruptions to happen, they will know that you don’t really care. Undivided attention goes without saying, so it’s time to educate all of your employees that communicate with your clients to make your customers feel pampered during every conversation.

Nurture trust with your customers

In addition to how you present your brand online and how you interact with your customers, there are other, subtler, yet equally powerful ways to impact the perception people have of your business. Establishing and inspiring trust, especially for the long haul is often based on your existing image: if other customers are happy with your service and eager to purchase your product or service, you’ll naturally instil trust in any new visitor on your website. This phenomenon is called social proof, and it has become the key method for brands to showcase their reputation in the eyes of new customers.

The simplest and most effective way to implement social proof online is to use a conversion rate optimization tool that generates notifications each time someone on your site makes a purchase. Your visitors then see that others gladly trust your brand, which reinforces their own trust in your business. That initial spark of trust will serve as the foundation of future, long-term loyalty because seeing that you have a solid standing in your industry is what will help further strengthen your position every time a new customer stops by. 

Give them a token of appreciation

We all love freebies, right? So do your new customers. Much like you need to exceed their expectations, you also need to make sure that the experience they have with you, the very first one in fact, is defined by a positive surprise, one that will get them talking about your brand to everyone they know. For instance, if they’ve ordered a piece of clothing from you, you can send them a second garment in their size that fits the same style. 

Alternatively, you can offer them discounts they can transfer to a family member or a gift card they can give to someone they love. Even if you just send them a hand-written note together with the product they bought, that alone would be enough to impress them since very few businesses nowadays go to those extra lengths to humanize their brand, personalize their experience, and make their relationships last. This is an opportunity to personalize their gift or their card, so not only will their token be useful, but it will be memorable as well. Use the feedback they give you as a point of reference for similar decisions in the future as well as for future customers.

Chances are that you often focus on attracting new customers without paying too much attention to how long that bond will last. These are some of the ways in which you can ensure that your new customers have a better chance of becoming your loyal customers who will be your best ambassadors in the future and who will genuinely connect with your brand.