Educate During Life Changes

In cross-selling, we aim to sell to the purchaser additional related products and services. Suppose there were a way to increase your cross-selling success by 56% in the short-term. Researchers at Indiana University and Carnegie Mellon University found such a way.
     That’s the short-term. You’re in retailing for the long-term. The researchers report even more compelling statistics here, saying they were able to increase the long-term response rate to cross-selling marketing by about 150%, resulting in an increase of almost 180% in long-term profit.
     The setting was a financial institution. The cross-selling consisted of educating the customer about other financial products which could benefit them. What made the difference, the researchers say, was the timing of the education. People go through life changes in rather predictable patterns. With financial services, the researchers found that consumers begin their relationship with a firm by seeking convenience, then move toward wanting flexibility in money management, and then toward stimulation from investment risk. When the nature of the education was timed to fit life changes, cross-selling was dramatically more successful.
     Whatever your product or service offerings, apply this tactic of educating during life changes. If you'd like to encourage brand switching, do it when people are moving from one role in life to another. This happens with events like college graduation, getting married or getting divorced, having a first child, changing careers, and locating in a new country or culture.
     We might assume that when people are already feeling highly uncertain about what's happening in their lives, they'd actually be less likely to switch brands. Since moving from one role in life to another is a time of high uncertainty, it would seem that you trying to change brand commitments then would only end up being a big waste. But when it comes to role switching, the truth is the opposite of what we might commonly assume.

• Maintain easy-to-use gift registries where people due to graduate or marry can list the items they'd like to receive from well-wishers. In setting up those registries, educate about items which offer distinctive features for users and good profitability for you.
• Educate via advertising and store signage to people in your target markets who will be looking for evidence that they’re doing okay in new roles. Research at University of Minnesota showed how recent immigrants seek out brands to give themselves acceptable status in their new culture.

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Use Customer Life Changes to Switch Brands