The customer has bought ten times. Why are you asking her to join again?

In episode 113, I meet Jacob Sjönander, co-founder of Triggerbee. We start with the customer who returns to the site and still gets treated as new. Then we discuss quizzes, membership benefits and games that can help customers choose. Which information do we need, and what should improve for the person providing it?

A good shop does not start over every time you walk in.

Jacob compares a personal online experience with a smaller physical shop where staff recognise the customer. They may know what she usually buys and what she appreciates. The next conversation can continue where the previous one ended.

Online, the same customer often meets a generic box asking for her email or inviting her to join. Even when she is already a member. Even after several purchases. It is a fairly concrete way to show that the relationship does not follow her onto the site.

Understanding the relationship that already exists is therefore a useful start. What does the new visitor need to know? What does a member need help with? What is relevant for the person returning to the same product again?

For a new visitor, the next step may be understanding the range. The member may only need to log in. That is a useful distinction to start with before adding more promotional areas.

Listen at this point · 00:00

Ask something you intend to use the answer for.

We discuss quizzes and questions that can provide a better basis for recommendations. The important thing is not collecting as many answers as possible. It is what the answer helps the customer accomplish.

Car parts are an easy example from the conversation. Once the car is identified, an enormous range can narrow to parts that actually fit. The principle can inform other categories too: which information makes the selection more relevant?

For cleaning products, the home and surfaces may matter more than a general preference question. Someone living in a flat does not need the same things as someone planning to clean a large wooden deck. That difference can affect both products and communication.

If the customer has already provided useful information, the next question is how it carries forward. A quiz that influences nothing after the thank-you page is mainly another activity the customer has done for the company.

Listen at this point · 03:15

Loyalty should show from the company’s side too.

A recurring irritation in the conversation is the offer for a new customer that beats anything a loyal one gets. Someone who has stayed a long time discovers that the reward is elsewhere, if she only changes supplier.

I want existing customers to feel the relationship matters. That might mean a relevant benefit, a well-considered bundle deal or something extra in a delivery. It need not always be a reduction in price.

We discuss small embedded messages, or nudges, adapted to the situation. A member may need a reminder to log in. Someone buying again can receive a different greeting or benefit than someone entirely new.

Decide which customers the message should help and hide it when the task is already done. A member should not have to sign up again to move forward.

Listen at this point · 09:50

The visitor may be on her first round or her seventeenth.

A more expensive or unfamiliar product may need several visits before purchase. The person may compare, read specifications and try to understand whether the solution works in her life. Leaving the site does not always mean interest is gone.

Jacob highlights how behaviour can offer clues about the support needed when the visitor returns. Someone wants technical information. Someone else needs a clearer demonstration or a relevant offer.

That does not mean the company knows for certain why she hesitates. It gives us a question to investigate. Which obstacle are we trying to solve, and what in the visit gives us reason to believe it?

Timing matters. A large box interrupting immediately can obstruct what the customer came to do. A small, relevant message when the question actually arises can feel more like service.

Listen at this point · 15:38

A game needs to do more than collect clicks.

We examine Easter eggs, memory games and Christmas calendars. There is something human about wanting to find, complete or win something. But the activity needs to connect with what the company and customer should get from it.

In the conversation, I describe campaigns where we used games to help more people discover products and try something new. The point is not that the same setup must work for everyone. It is the connection between the activity, relevant reward and next step.

The operational work is part of the value too. If every participant has to email a screenshot and customer service must manually decide who found something first, the company has created an extra flow to manage.

A good idea therefore needs thoughtful execution. What can the customer understand immediately? How does she get the result? And how do we make it possible to follow what actually happens after the game?

Listen at this point · 45:00

Give the customer a story she wants to pass on.

Towards the end, we discuss the little extra. Jacob describes a gift with a purchase, and I describe a handwritten card and a simple surprise after collecting a car. They are personal examples of how appreciation can feel.

Both stories concern something unexpected after purchase. I had already paid for the car when the card arrived with a bag of Ahlgrens bilar sweets. That small greeting became something I still talk about.

The question can come back to e-commerce with us. What do we know about the person buying? What would make the next contact helpful or unexpectedly thoughtful? What would she actually want to tell someone else?

Start with one such next contact: what do you know about the customer, what can you help her with and what would feel thoughtful? Then choose the information or feature needed to make it happen.

Listen at this point · 1:01:40

This article is based on the conversation and adapted for reading.