Every business should have an in-depth knowledge of how customers interact with products and services and decide to buy on their path to purchase. Unfortunately, the post-purchase stage, evaluation, is often overlooked.

But once a customer has purchased your product, the relationship isn’t over. In fact, it’s just the beginning of the evaluation stage.
Overlooking the evaluation stage can be a big mistake, because after a customer converts and makes a purchase, how the sale is evaluated has a huge effect on making future sales.

Businesses have long relied on word of mouth advertising in the form of testimonials, referrals and recommendations. In the digital age, the medium for word of mouth advertising has changed, but its impact is still profound.

If customers are talking about your products online and in person, you can guarantee that other potential customers are listening. That’s because reviews and customer feedback are a critical part of the path to purchase for your next customer.

The path toward purchase

How does one travel on the path to purchase when deciding what to buy? If you’re looking to purchase a new product, it’s more than likely your research includes mining insights from other purchasers, often online. Constructive insights – such as quality of a product, the customer service during the purchase, and other customer experiences – can be valuable when making an informed decision where and how to spend your money.

Consumer surveys confirm that users overwhelmingly rely on online feedback from other consumers to make purchase decisions. Consider the findings of the 2017 BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey:

  • 97% of consumers now read online reviews
  • Consumers read an average of 7 reviews before trusting a business – up from 6 last year
  • 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
  • 49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business

Clearly, ratings and reviews have a huge impact on customer purchases, even purchases made in a store. A Retail Dive Consumer Survey found that about two-thirds of consumers surveyed research purchases online before making a purchase at a retailer.

So how can you turn your happy customers into referrals?

Here’s how (and why):

Be present. Make sure you have an updated and robust online presence on relevant platforms (Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business, etc.) The easier you are to find, the more likely it is that customers will leave feedback. According to BrightLocal, Yelp & Facebook are local consumers’ most trusted review sites, followed by Google & BBB.org

Solicit feedback. Your physical and digital marketing should be well-positioned to invite reviews. Some examples include:

  • Incorporate requests for reviews in follow-up and thank you emails post-purchase
  • In-store signage requesting customer reviews prominently visible at the point of sale
  • Train in-store staff to end a purchase experience with, “don’t forget to leave us a review on Facebook so other customers can find us!”

Asking for reviews may seem much to request of your customers, but statistics reveal it isn’t: 68% of consumers left a local business review when asked – with 74% having been asked for their feedback.

Make it worth their while.

Consider potential incentives. What are some low-cost ways to offer further value to a customer, and how could you tie that value to leaving a review?

You want to be careful to avoid the impression of “buying” a consumer’s positive feedback, but a special offer or add-on to a purchase can be a powerful influence on customers that makes them want to spread the news about you.

Do you have brand evangelists – people who LOVE your product and want to spread the word? Make sure you’re making a special effort to engage those customers – on social media, with special offers, and even by incorporating them into your decisions by soliciting their feedback on new product offerings or programs.

Partner with an influencer. According to a McKinsey Study, customers acquired via marketing-inspired word of mouth (influencer) generate twice the sales of paid advertising and those customers have a 37% retention rate. Choosing the correct influencer for your market to work with could bring big returns, provided their follower base is a match for your products or services.

Referrals, reviews and word of mouth marketing are what make the evaluation process so critical to acquiring new customers. That trio of intel can provide a return on investment far beyond ordinary marketing channels. On the flip side, they also provide insight into your customers’ experiences, both the things your business is doing well and areas where you could improve.

Responding to reviews – positive or negative – is also important to consumers, with 30% naming this as key when judging local businesses.

Interested in learning more about the other stages on the path to purchase? Contact one of our experts today.

By MassLive Media Group Marketing Staff

 

Manufacturing Recruitment Strategy

Worker shortages in manufacturing industry is real. Highly skilled positions remain open as a significant portion of the manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement age. For manufacturers, building and maintaining a robust and skilled talent pool is key for both short-term and long-term hiring success.

Recruitment Marketing as a Relationship Builder, Not Just Candidate Sourcing

Don’t wait to be present until a position is open – consistently position your brand in front of both passive and active job seekers. Consistent branding creates a talent pool who is familiar with your company, benefits, culture and therefore more likely to consider you when looking to make a career change. Top of the funnel marketing tactics such as video and display make your brand presence known.

Build A Connection By Understanding Your Best Potential Candidates 

Develop personas, marketing strategies and campaigns specific to your common open positions. Different positions attract different types of candidates. Understanding the nuances allows you to more directly content with job seekers, to communicate your company story and to welcome them into your culture with a personalized approach. Seek out a recruitment marketing partner with a deep data bench, capable of developing audience segments, media placements and creative to speak directly to specific candidate audiences.

Enhance Your Job Board Presence with Display & Video

Placements on job boards are effective in reaching those actively seeking a position. However, other traditional marketing methods like targeted display and video allow companies to share their full story. More visual formats let prospective candidates see your benefits and experience your culture. Both elements that can cause them to choose you as their next employer – over your competition.

SUCCESS STORIES

Healthcare Recruitment Strategy

A growing aging population, pandemic burnout and a ramp up of traveling nurse opportunities have put a strain on healthcare recruitment. Nurses are in high demand – with an abundance of employment options to choose from. How does your healthcare facility standout in this mad dash for employment?

Invest in the Community You Serve

Healthcare is essential to the community. Consider supporting the community you serve by sponsoring local events, job fairs and awards to keep your organization top-of-mind. Not only will these positive associations bring your organization front and center, it will also generate positive word of mouth among the community – reaching friends and families connected to potential candidates.

Showcase Company Culture

Give a glimpse of what its like to work at your organization on any given day. Show the people who work there, the halls to be walked and the benefits to be had. Video succinctly communicates positive culture through virtual tours, testimonials and more. Written testimonials and other content featuring current employees lend authenticity to your showcase.

Replenish Talent Pools with New Grads

New graduates are critical in helping to fill staffing gaps and to replenish talent pools. Utilize highly targeted strategies to reach new graduates, while still on campus, where they are spending their time. Hyper local mobile targeting puts your organization front and center among soon-to-be-graduating adding you to their consideration set for post-graduation employment.

SUCCESS STORIES

Education Recruitment Strategy

Like most categories of business, education providers are facing faculty and staff shortages. Finding experienced and passionate educators and faculty continues to be a challenge. Education institutions should look beyond salary and benefits to larger strategies to drive interest and applications for the upcoming school year ahead.

Build Your Talent Pool with Year-Round Strategy

Primary education recruitment season begins at the end of the previous school year, with many schools starting from scratch every year. Establishing a year-round recruitment marketing strategy, allows you
to reach faculty and staff considering a change throughout the school year, adding them to your talent pool as the year progresses. Having a year-round plan also puts your institution front and center, outside of the more cluttered traditional recruitment period.

Utilize Your Community As A Recruitment Tool

Your community has the potential to be a unique selling point for your institution. Consider highlighting the quality of life – showing prospective employees the community you serve. Community events, local activities, cost of living and more can have pull over prospective employees looking to make a move or to enjoy a way of life your community offers. Partner with local events, local organizations and even your convention and visitors bureau to generate content about your community.

Job Fairs Help Build Awareness of Your Institution

Passive and Active job seekers join job fairs to learn more about prospective districts and institutions. By merely being present, among your competition, you can ensure that your district or institution is in the consideration set for educators looking to make a career move. Both in-person and virtual career fairs provide additional visibility and awareness for your institution.

SUCCESS STORIES

Warehouse Recruitment Strategy

Warehouses are experiencing unprecedented growth thanks to a shift towards online shopping. As growth continues and timely shipping remains critical, warehouses face a continual shortage of workers.

Tout the Benefits That Make You Stand Out

Warehousing jobs are not historically known for good benefits and upward mobility. With changing demand and increased competition, more warehouse companies are adding long-term benefits and job training to their offerings. As an employer, tout benefits like 401Ks, employer matching and paid training as part of new hire packages. Talk about your openings more as long-term careers vs. short- term or holiday employment for additional appeal.

Get Connected In the Community

Grassroots community efforts and word of mouth tactics still hold strong in warehousing recruitment. Sponsoring local community events and job fairs raises brand awareness in the community, spreads positive sentiment about your organization and jump starts word of mouth. This simple activation makes your organization more likely to be noticed by potential job seekers and considered as a stable, future local employer in a future job search.

Local Jobs, Local Placements

Warehousing recruitment pulls most applicants and new hires locally. Very rarely to companies hire outside of their immediate market. Tap into the local job seeker scene through local job boards, job fairs and other local job posting opportunities. Local job seekers continually use these outlets to find new employment opportunities.

SUCCESS STORIES

Trucking Recruitment Strategy

Facing an aging workforce and increased competition for new talent, the trucking industry struggles to keep recruitment pipelines full and trucking routes staffed. Trucking industries should look to implement full-funnel marketing strategies to not only attract active job seekers but it keep talent pools fresh with new prospects.

Address Trucking Industry Myths

Increase top-of-the-funnel prospects by introducing the benefits of a trucking industry careers to passive job seekers. Address potential concerns head-on, including hours, mileage goals and living conditions while highlighting employment benefits such as 401K matching, healthcare and time off. Video and written content are both great vehicles to communicate this information.

Stay in Touch with Prospects

Deciding to change careers can be a lengthy process for passive job seekers. Keep your talent pool active with periodic communication about your business, job openings and career benefits. Set up an email calendar, reaching out to a list of emails from those who you met at job fairs, submitted an inquiry or sent a full resume. Frequently post about your culture, the trucking industry and openings to keep your followers engaged.

Job Boards Are Important

Trucking applicants remain tapped in to local and regional job boards. A presence on local job boards and job aggregator sites provide you business with bottom of the funnel presence – reaching those interested in the truck industry and actively applying now.

SUCCESS STORIES

Professional Recruitment Strategy

Finding outstanding talent that fits your culture is a concern for any business. Make the most of your time and resources by attracting qualified candidates that can hit the ground running and succeed within your organization. Identify quality talent and cultivate your talent pool with leading recruitment marketing strategies perfect for professional businesses.

Showcase Your Company Culture

Tell the story of your business, your history, your employees and more. The more a prospective employee knows about your operations and culture the more they are able to determine whether they are a match for your organization. Office tour videos, employee testimonials and other visuals can help to show daily life within your company.

Tailor Communications to Open Positions

Instead of deploying blanket recruitment ads for all positions in your company, consider developing custom creative and campaigns for each position. Messaging should focus on key benefits and operations of that role, showcase photos and videos of that segment of your business and speak directly to those candidates. Specific communication, drives more qualified applications – increasing your odds of finding a match while building up your talent pool - than general recruitment ads.

Use Job Boards to Reach Active Job Seekers

Job Fairs, local job boards and job board aggregators remain critical bottom-of-the-funnel tactics in securing applications for open positions. While other flashier tactics will fill the top of your funnel, these more nitty-gritty media elements provide a place for active job seekers to seamlessly apply for the positions they want – now.

SUCCESS STORIES