Haley Greene, Building Trust and Customer Loyalty – InnovaBuzz 298

Haley Greene, Email Copywriter and Strategist

In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Haley Greene, a former retail expert turned copywriter. Haley works with online retailers to help them get sales with Facebook ads and email marketing strategies that forge genuine relationships with customers and keep them engaged and coming back for more. Her focus is on turning casual fans into loyal shoppers that you know on a first-name basis.

In our discussion, Haley and I talked about:

• Understanding your customer’s behaviour through the lens of your customer’s experience
• Marketing is involved in the entire customer journey, even in post-sale
• The importance of talking to your customers and helping them achieve their goals

Eman Zabi in episode 270 introduced us to Haley.

Listen to the podcast to find out more.

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Show Notes from this episode with Haley Greene, Email Copywriter and Strategist

Key points and takeaways from this episode include:

• If you want to do best by your customers, you really need to understand where they are, what their needs are, and how they behave when trying to get what they need. The more you that you can understand these things, the more effective your marketing will be.
• Customer loyalty is key to profitability.
• Customer retention is the path to growth in business. Customers who are loyal are usually the ones who generate the most revenue for your business. 
• Prioritise your loyal customers. They are your most important customers.
• Email marketing is a customer service opportunity in many ways. It gives you a chance to be proactive and anticipate your customer’s needs. You can also use it to educate customers. 
• The post-purchase is a make and break opportunity for your company. People are excited when they make a purchase and you want to build on that excitement. Don’t send them a bunch of emails before they actually get the product.
• Use customer interactions to discover what parts of the post-purchase are confusing for your customers – what are the most frequently asked questions? What part trips people up when they’re first trying to use your product? Show them images of real life customers who are happily using your product. People respond to that.
• Genuinely thank your customers for purchasing your product, and remind them why they made a great decision when they decided to buy from you. The post-purchase flow is a key opportunity to get your brand new customer to engage with your brand.
• Customer experience is easy. You just have to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. 
• Find the balance. Don’t overwhelm your customers with too much information immediately after the purchase. Marketing should happen over time and it’s all about serving and adding more value to their lives. 
• Direct people to back your website but don’t spam their inboxes. Be relevant!
• Mix things up and make your content unpredictable. It keeps people wanting to open your emails and read your content. Think about how you can entertain them. People seek relevancy and entertainment.
• Personalise your content. Make it useful. It’s all about helping your customers achieve their goals. 
• Keep in mind that an inbox is a very personal space. Customers gave you permission to be there, and so, you owe it to them to deliver a great experience each time. You want to be memorable to them.
• Communication is a major opportunity in the e-commerce space.
• Surveys are fantastic and you can learn tons from them, but interviews take things to another level because it allows you to connect with your customers and learn how you can better serve them.
• Talking to customers doesn’t have to be formal. It’s just a conversation. You don’t even have to talk that much when interacting with customers. You just have to LISTEN! 
• People love to share their opinions, and customers like being involved in the decision process. It’s an honor for them to speak with you. 
• Loyal customers are VIP customers. You can get the best insights from them. They know about your products on a deeper level than people who haven’t ever bought a can, and they’ll talk about your product in ways that you just never knew about.
• Nurturing emails are more about engagement and should have a softer sales message. 
• Use chat transcripts, customer emails, and product reviews to gather customer feedback.
• Talk to your customers. Pick up the phone and call them. Your customers will be genuinely appreciative of it, and that’s where you build that loyalty. It means a lot to people when a company wants to hear their voice. You’re showing them how important they are, and that creates a really powerful impact.
• People will always remember how you made them feel. It’s the same way for negative emotions. People will remember those negative experiences when they look back at your company. Acknowledge your customer’s frustrations. Don’t be defensive.
• Marketing and customer service have to be aligned. Customer service is delivering that promise that you made in your marketing. 

The Buzz – Our Innovation Round

Here are Haley’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.

1. #1 thing to be more innovative – Make more time to interact directly with your top customers.
2. Best thing for new ideas – Study history. Seek inspiration from the past.
3. Favourite tool for innovation – Pen and paper, Asana.
4. Keep project/client on track – Set the expectations. Be proactive and take ownership of the project. 
5. Differentiate – Be transparent. Fess up when you make a mistake. We all make them and it’s bound to happen in business at are some point. People can forgive mistakes and they are a lot more forgiving when you admit to your mistakes. Don’t be defensive. Be straightforward about it and explain the situation. It’s a human thing to do and your customers will genuinely appreciate being spoken to on that human to human level. 

To Be a Leader

Be a decisive leader. Great leaders make decisions they can stick with. That’s how you move forward and make progress in your company. Listen to your team and accept their input. Make a decision and stick with it.

Reach Out

You can reach out and thank Haley through her website.

Suggested Guest

Haley suggested I interview Facebook Ads strategist, Jen Myers and Writing Coach, Jessie Lewis. So Jen and Jessie, keep an eye on your inboxes for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Haley Greene.

Links

• Website – Haley Greene
• Twitter – @HGreeneCreative
• LinkedIn

Cool things about Haley

• She’s a vintage lover. 
• She loves mid-century design.
• She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Apparel & Merchandising from Eastern Kentucky University.

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