Every single touch point with your customer is an opportunity to inspire them and make a lasting impression.

Here at Now In Store we’re always working on improving customer success. This means reviewing each part of the process where we get to interact with our customers and making those moments great.

For us, this implies improving our customer communications such as: customer service emails, chat support, receipts, and, newsletters.

As you package up and ship products to your customers for the holidays, consider the unpacking process as a massive opportunity for greatness. As your customer unpacks the box there is this wonderful moment for you to re-engage with them.

How do you celebrate that moment and make them fall in love with you even further?

Here is one way: ship with beautiful marketing materials.

The marketing material you ship, should aim for one of two things: (1) make your customer look good or (2) inspire them.

(1) What we mean by “make them look good” is this: your brand and by extension your marketing materials is something they want to show-off. You will need to get inside your consumers head to understand what is it they want to show-off (more on that later).

(2) Inspire them by showing them ways in which their life and aspects of their life can be improved. For example, pictures of your product being used and being effective.

The most successful marketing materials are the ones that stick around the longest.  Literally speaking they stick around: on coffee tables, in salons, in doctor’s offices, on your friend’s kitchen counter, and on your mom’s refrigerator.

Generally, these are the ones with a story and strong branding, that are simultaneously either making the customer look good (see point 1) or inspiring them (see point 2).

Here are three ways to improve your customer unpacking experience:

(1) Try catalogs: There is a certain ”je ne sais quoi” about a catalog.

Earlier this year, Ordoro wrote about the growth of Bonobos and their outsourced fulfillment strategy. Their multi-channel strategy  includes catalogs. Customers who come to the Bonobos’ website after first viewing their catalog spend 1.5 times more than a new shopper.

Williams Sonoma recently reported a 9.4% jump in their second quarter revenue this year. This jump is credited to their direct-to-consumer channel that consists primarily of catalog and e-commerce sales.

(2) Test.

When designing marketing materials print out a test run, hand them out to your friends and family, and check in a week later to see what they did with them. This is where you get to go inside your consumer’s head. Do not ask how they felt about the material; ask them where the material is at that very moment. This is extremely powerful because it tells you what they are willing to show off, dismiss, and keep around.

Test different items – flyers, catalogs, and postcards.

Then test them with your consumers. Maybe printed long form catalogs do not work for your market. Perhaps they prefer a 1-page briefer, a shorter catalog, a link to a catalog online, or a beautiful postcard.

(3) Prioritize.

Do not leave this on the back burner. Especially if you are an ecommerce only company, you have very limited opportunities to tangibly engage with your customer. And it is important that you do! In an introductory case study, researchers found that printed marketing materials leave deeper more long lasting impressions in the brain versus virtual marketing materials.

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Implement this strategy as soon as you can. Look to the best multi-channel companies (Williams Sonoma, Lands End, JCrew) and see what aspects you can copy.

-Divya H. Pahwa

Excellent Product Photography is a Must. Click to read: