17. How to build customer loyalty between sales without constant promotions

EPISODE 17 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

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In this episode, I answers an anonymous listener question that hits at the heart of customer retention:

“How do I keep my customers engaged between purchases?”

While most businesses chase new leads and visibility, I break down why your existing customers are your most valuable asset, and how staying connected between purchases builds trust, loyalty, and repeat business.

You’ll learn actionable ways to show up consistently, support your customers post-purchase, and create a brand experience that keeps them coming back (not because they’re being sold to, but because they feel seen, supported, and valued).

What we cover:

Why Most Businesses Ghost Customers After a Sale – And how that’s a missed opportunity for deeper connection and repeat sales.

How to Stay Front of Mind Without Constantly Pitching – What to say, share, and show in between launches.

Small Touches That Build Big Loyalty – Think check-ins, celebrations, and personalized nudges that show you care.

Post-Purchase Experiences That Actually Support the Buyer – Why “value delivery” shouldn’t stop after they hit buy.

How to Use Behavior Cues to Guide the Next Sale – Let your customers show you when they’re ready to buy again.

Soundbites:

“Stay front of mind for them, and don’t go silent. You need to show up regularly. Give them tips related to their purchase and the topic that they’re interested in. You can share behind the scenes snippets of what you’re building to help build excitement for that potential next purchase. And a really perfect way to keep them engaged is to share client stories or success stories from customers that show how you can support people and what’s in store for them if they actually tap into what they’ve just purchased from you.”

“Another thing I’m doing in my business which creates the most awesome conversations is a low lift reward program. It literally sits in my email platform, it took me hardly any time to implement and it just means people are hit with a little reward when they least expect it. And I don’t just encourage purchases, I also encourage behaviour. I pay attention to how they’re engaging with my emails, what actions they’re taking. And if I feel like someone is really paying attention, they’re invested in what I have to say, I throw them a little reward which not only makes them feel super special, but it also can often be that little gentle nudge they need to make that next purchase or engage with my brand in a way that then sparks curiosity around one of my other offers.”

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Episode Transcript:

Nadine Nethery (00:02)

Hello, hello and welcome back to What Would They Do? In today’s episode, we are answering an anonymous listener question that goes a little like this. How do I keep my customers engaged between purchases? Which happens to be one of my favorite topics. Surprise, surprise. We’ve talked about…

customer retention and customer loyalty a lot on the podcast. So you should already know that repeat customers, loyal customers are much more profitable than those people you bring in cold via bundles or visibility opportunities.   They are easier to sell to because they already know you, they’ve already experienced what you can help them with and they are perfectly positioned to buy from you again.

And they are also much more likely to refer others to you because as I said, they’ve likely got results from working with you and they want to introduce their business buddies or their friends to you as well. Unfortunately, most businesses focus on constantly bringing in new people, fresh eyeballs on their office, which don’t get me wrong, we absolutely need to introduce new people into our universe.

that needs to happen strategically. They need to be the right people that are in a position to buy from you in the first place. So you can then nurture them long-term, really, you know, engage with them, introduce them to your community and make them a staple, long-term staple in your business. And the biggest mistake we can make as business owners is to go quiet until we have to sell.

something to sell again. So really ghosting people once they’ve purchased from you and then mysteriously popping up again when it’s launch time and you have something new to sell. So we need to be that reliable, trustworthy partner that sticks with them even when we don’t have anything to sell, when they’ve just dropped their money. We need to

stick with the status quo, right? We probably need to support them even more than we did before the purchase because now in between purchases is when you are creating that loyalty and that desire to experience your brand even more, right? So the time between purchase and that next launch really isn’t downtime. I would never consider it as downtime.

And it’s your job in between purchases to build relationships and really show up in a way that supports them with their purchase that delivers value that primes them for whatever you’re working on over the next few months, right? And we don’t want to constantly push a hard sell as much as selling needs to be part of the agenda, but there needs to needs to be a fine balance between support, nurturing and selling.

but I’ll share a little strategy that makes it less pushy with you in a second as well. So let’s have a look at some of those actionable strategies, right? First of all, super important, stay front of mind for them, right? And don’t go silent. You need to show up regularly. As I said,   give them tips related to their purchase and to related to the topic that they’re interested in.

you can share behind the scenes snippets of what you’re building to help build that anticipation in that excitement for that potential next purchase. And a really perfect way to keep them engaged is to share client stories or success stories from customers that show how you can support people and what’s in store for them if they actually tap into what they’ve just purchased from you.

You also, again, rather than just showing up with value and align tips, you also, as much as, you know, they’ve already bought, it’s your job to really make the most of their purchase and   help them get the most out of the money they’ve dropped, right? So often after the purchase, your customer doesn’t feel like they need anything new right now because they’ve just invested in one of your offers, which is right.

  they, what they need from you most is a gentle nudge to actually take action and check out that purchase, especially if it’s a self-paced resource, cause toolkit, something that doesn’t hold them accountable. Right. So,   really how you can support them here and how you can be that business owner that shows you genuinely care is to check in with them, genuinely see how they’re going with it, whether they have any problems, any questions.

can also send them little nudges like have you tried xyz as a way to get the most out of this product so help them you know spark ideas how they can get the most out of this product even if you give them the first you know three easy action steps that they can take to get started with their purchase it just shows you are with them on this journey beyond the purchase right  

Also celebrating wins and just telling them that you appreciate them, right? So you can celebrate milestones, for example, inside my membership retention lab, I celebrate, you know, three monthly milestones, six monthly, depending on the plan they’re on. I know it feels like such an insignificant thing, but especially in a business environment where, you know, AI is taking over a lot of the human interaction.

Even if it’s automated, just acknowledging that you’re seeing them, you’re appreciating them for sticking around for being loyal with your brand can make such a huge difference, right? Also celebrating their wins. So give them an opportunity to share those wins with you and actually respond, whether it’s a bonjour or a personalized video message that just acknowledged, my God, I can’t believe you did this. Like, congratulations. What an achievement. And just show

that care factor, like you actually invested in their success, right?   And it’s the small gestures that often go the furthest, right? Those unexpected gestures where someone went, my God, did you just really do that? Like that was a low ticket offer and I get more support than in my $5,000 mastermind. Like it’ll blow your mind how often I come across.  

not customer journeys, customer experiences, where really the customer experience doesn’t line up with the price tag. So if you can create a customer experience and an after purchase experience that blows their mind, especially for a low ticket offer, it is going to make you stand out. It is going to get people to pay attention to what you have to say because they want more of that standout, remarkable experience. And   very important, your customer

should be front of mind, even though they’ve bought something that’s already out there. There are always ways for you to improve the product, to make it even better. And often your customers are perfectly positioned to help you make those tweaks that get people even more,   even better results. So keep collecting feedback, especially in a membership as well.   Collecting feedback.

every few months in your membership, for example,   means you are getting fresh insights and you can potentially identify those mindset shifts where people are starting to come across mental hurdles or they’re losing momentum. And that then allows you to make tweaks to your onboarding sequence, for example, and your customer support, your little gentle nudges that you’re sending them to make sure they don’t get into that little funk that they’re caught in.  

When it comes to courses, same thing. Sometimes your customers have the brightest ideas and they’re really easy tweaks for you to make and easy additions. You can turn them into bonuses and it makes your offer even more appealing and it gets your customers results because you’ve been told firsthand, right? You can also involve your existing customers on future product development, for example, which then…

gets their buy-in, it makes them feel valued and appreciated. And it means they’ve got skin in the game if you’re launching something because their ideas and their input has been a part of that product development process, right? And it just makes them, you know, it turns them into collaborators rather than consumers, which is so important in today’s busy online space where there are millions of people doing the same thing. So if you can get…

your customers to have speaking in the game and feel emotionally invested in your brand and what you’re doing. That is key. Another little thing that I’m doing in my business, which again, totally unexpected. And it creates the most awesome conversations is a little low lift reward program that I have in my business. It literally sits in my email platform. It took me hardly any time to implement and it just means

people are hit with a little reward when they least expect it. And I don’t just encourage purchases, I also encourage behaviors. I pay attention to how they’re engaging with my emails, what actions they’re taking. And if I feel like someone is really paying attention, they’re invested in what I have to say, I throw them a little reward.

which not only makes them feel super special, but it also can often be that little gentle nudge they need to make that next purchase or engage with my brand in a way that then sparks curiosity around one of my other offers. And it’s actually one of the formulas that I share inside Retention Labs. I go through all the strategies, how I brought it to life, what’s involved, and also some of the results. So if you’re curious, check it out.  

and join me inside. You can also use trigger links. So I was talking about, you know, stepping away from that hard sell after people have purchased. And what I love to do is in my regular programming, in my emails that I send to my list, I organically mention, you know, products or services. And then I use trigger links. called in

Drip, which is the email platform I use, but all the other platforms   offer that feature as well. So if someone clicks those special links, there’s a whole bunch of automation happening in the background. And   I then add them to nurture sequences, to special email funnels,   to send them relevant information and find out whether this is potentially their next step. But it just means I have to do far less.

pushy selling and   really my subscribers decide when they’re ready to receive that next offer because they’re showing me they’re interested and only when they’re showing me they’re interested is when I sent them that next step and content to warm them strategically to that next purchase. So a few ideas for you here today. I’m going to leave you as per usual on those actual little reflective prompts. So what I’d love you to ask yourself today is

What do your customers hear from you after they purchase? So, you know, are you pitching to them? Are you ghosting them? Have a look at your post purchase experience and what’s currently going on there. Then next up, how can you remind them of the value and the goldmine that they’re currently sitting on? So I really help them lean into that purchase, help them get results so they then trust

in your expertise and really want more of that with their next purchase and really have a look at one small tweak that you can make to your post purchase experience. Is there any small gesture, whether it’s personalized or automated that you can implement today, whether it’s celebrating a milestone,   implementing a little unexpected reward for people who have engaged with your content. Have a think about

what that might look like and yeah, really be more conscious about your post purchase experience because yeah, your existing customers are super important for a sustainable business that yeah, consistently grows your bottom line that lights you up because people are in your universe, they are collaborators in the process and they have skin in the game. So.

If you like the idea of having your custom experience headache answered on the show, then hit up the link in the show notes, submit your question anonymously or with name and business details and I’ll give you a little shout out. If you enjoyed today, give it, give the show a follow, subscribe and share it with anyone who might be interested. Thanks so much for tuning in and I’ll see you next week.