One of the busiest days of the year is now behind us: Black Friday. We’ve talked in various articles about this highly anticipated date for both consumers and businesses, as it marks a turning point in terms of shopping and interactions . But now it’s time to start thinking about what comes after Black Friday.
The Black Friday hangover
While all businesses aim to increase their customer base and boost sales, fulfilling orders can often slow growth. This is particularly true brazil whatsapp number data during sudden surges in demand, such as Black Friday. Overnight, your business can go from processing hundreds of orders a day to managing thousands or tens of thousands.
For all these reasons, in the following article, we’ll discuss a real-life case of a company facing high demand and how to master order fulfillment through:
- A website that can handle increased traffic.
- Inventory control.
- Sales tracking.
- Clients updated.
- Internal collaboration.
In the best-case scenario, you can hire more staff, anticipating this demand as much as possible. And in the worst-case scenario? Orders stall due to lack of attention, complaints begin to pour in, and your reputation suffers.
This was something that happened to UK fashion retailer Nobody’s Child in the summer of 2020. The retailer temporarily closed during the early months of the COVID outbreak in the UK, and upon reopening, it was inundated with orders and returns. Naturally, it couldn’t keep up, and some customers waited months for their orders and returns to be processed.
Although this problem wasn’t caused by Black Friday, the root cause remains the same. This is an example of a retailer whose order fulfillment and returns processes couldn’t cope with an unexpected surge in demand.
3 things to keep in mind after Black Friday
Marketing efforts don’t end there, as there are a multitude of initiatives you can develop to increase customer engagement and ensure their offer discounts and freebies satisfaction. Don’t focus solely on peak periods like Christmas or sales; take advantage of this opportunity to develop your customer database and improve your customer loyalty.
After working on the acquisition and conversion aspects of our marketing and sales funnel, we now need to focus our attention on our users’ engagement. To achieve this, there are several ways to boost their happiness that won’t require any extra effort in terms of time or resources.
Offers order tracking
Whether purchases were made in your online store or in your physical store, order tracking provides security, confidence, and facilitates communication with your customers.
A simple SMS, which has an opening rate of up to 98%, provides peace of mind to customers as they receive confirmation that their package is being delivered or will be delivered on the specified day.
You can go a step further by offering an enriched experience through an RCS or WhatsApp Business message . These add brand value and offer a window of interaction, for example, with buttons that allow customers to change the delivery location or date. This not only increases customer satisfaction but also optimizes order delivery, saving time and money. Logistics services have enough time to modify the route and improve package delivery rates.
Ensures good customer service
A purchase doesn’t end at the moment of payment, as you well know. Rather, the process continues until the customer enjoys the product or service. And after Black Friday, there will be many users who will be enjoying their purchase. It’s time, then, to properly prepare your customer service team to handle the volume of requests that comes after Black Friday.
Consider facilitating communication between teams and users through a widely used app in Spain: WhatsApp Business. With it, you can create automated chats or provide conversations that can be managed in real time by any agent. Your customers won’t have to wait to speak to a customer service representative or repeat their request or complaint over and over again, which will boost their satisfaction and streamline your team’s internal processes.
How can you promote your WhatsApp Business service? If you already have their phone numbers, send them an SMS with a link to subscribe to your service and include a button on your website, for example.
Returns or exchanges: simple and transparent process
There’s no need to worry if the product aero leads doesn’t meet your customers’ expectations. Offer an easy way to return or exchange your product. It’s at these times that you should be more understanding and provide more ways to contact them to prevent friction from becoming a nightmare for your customers.
Send a return confirmation via SMS or RCS , or even open the option to start a conversation via WhatsApp . These channels are much more effective than a simple email, which can get lost in a cluttered inbox.
What’s next? After Black Friday, what’s next?
Now that you’ve connected with many of your regular customers and acquired a multitude of new ones, it’s time to stay in touch with them to ensure their experience is as pleasant as possible. This will help you achieve a second purchase sooner than expected.
Take care of your customers
We’ve already seen that after-sales services such as customer service, returns, and logistics and transportation are key to ensuring customer satisfaction after a purchase.
There are several actions you can take to help this happiness last over time:
- Satisfaction surveys. Ask about the service received through an automated SMS survey system . This allows you to obtain feedback on the product, the purchasing process, or after-sales service.
- Additional information about the product or service. Schedule SMS messages with tips, use cases, tricks, or other relevant information about the product or service. This will increase your database’s engagement.
- Update your data. Take advantage of the opportunity to fill in the gaps in your CRM. This way, you’ll be able to create more targeted campaigns in the future that will lead to a better ROI.
- Encourage second purchases . Don’t miss the opportunity to encourage a second purchase, for example, during the Christmas or winter sales. Send discount codes or enable cross-selling.
- Clean out your warehouse. After Black Friday, you’ll notice your warehouse or store has emptied, but perhaps there are still some products or sizes you’d like to get rid of. Offer an extra discount on these items, for example, and you’ll get a second purchase while you clean out your warehouse.
With all this, remember that you can add personalization to your messages. This will ensure that, despite using an automated mass mailing platform, your users perceive your communications as personalized and personal. Another point in your favor for promoting your customers’ well-being.
Don’t forget: after Black Friday there are more important events coming up.
After this special day, other important dates approach, such as Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Christmas, and Winter Sales. If your campaign has been a success, get ready to implement all the tips and actions and ensure your marketing initiatives contribute to boosting your sales before the end of the year.
Your customers are special and should feel that way. Don’t forget about them after they’ve made a purchase, but rather accompany them so their journey and engagement with your brand lasts.
Try our platform today and ensure your shipments are efficient and don’t require large investments of time or money.