I recently visited an online high-end thrift store. In order to browse their items, you must first sign in. There’s no fee required and there’s a single sign-on through Facebook or Amazon. It’s only mildly annoying but that’s not the part that may be useful to your chamber.
Once you sign up, they have your name and info. For a chamber to have this information you’d need to have provided some sort of gated giveaway for the visitor to give you their information. While this may not be an ideal fit but there’s a good communication lesson in the end.
I signed up yesterday, placed something in my shopping cart, and left the site without making a purchase.
Today, I received a well-written email from the CEO. In it he told me that every day he receives a report on who has signed up and left the site without purchasing. While he didn’t say this, I will add these numbers are probably very important to him. He’s probably crunched them to discover that those who buy right away often become loyal customers, while those who do not, probably forget about the site.
He invited me to take a look at the items again and reminded me of a discount that was still in effect for the next several days.
Why This Sales Approach Works and What May Work for Your Chamber
This is an effective approach for several reasons:
It’s not creepy. Sometimes remarketing approaches can leave potential customers wondering “how did you know that?”. He was upfront about the report and how he looks at it every day.
He made the recipient feel important. My name was on his list. He reached out to me. He knows what’s going on in his company. The dirty marketer in me will tell you this whole thing is auto-generated but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels very personal.
He makes it worth my while with a discount. I’m not saying that’s effective for chambers but you do need to tell the prospect what is in it for them.
He asks/encourages me to do something (otherwise known as a call-to-action). He reminded me of my cart and used the tactic of Fear of Missing Out to drive my action to log back in.
So how can chambers use a similar sales approach?
- Pay attention to when people are checking you out.
- Use data and giveaways to learn who’s on your site. A good giveaway, for instance, might be 10 Ways the Chamber Can Help You Get More Sales. Only people who are interested in what chamber membership can do for them would download it.
- Cross check downloads with your membership list because you don’t want to try and connect with someone who’s already a member. If you have a lot of members downloading it, you’ve just discovered an educational opportunity for them.
- Write a personalized letter to the content downloader thanking them for downloading the information and extending an invitation or call-to-action to them.
Personalizing a message is one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd. It makes people feel good and gives them a reason to answer your call-to-action.
