According to the Consumer Technology Association, the U.S. consumer technology industry is projected to generate a record $505 billion in retail sales revenue in 2022. Individuals invest significant time and money into these consumer technology and home appliance purchases. But the shopping experience shouldn’t just end at checkout – it’s an opportunity to form deep connections between consumers and the products they care about.
So how can consumer technology brands bring more value to the purchase experience and enable customers to get the most out of their products? And how do they do it in a way that protects their investments in customer acquisition?
Unified ownership experiences are the key to driving lifetime value, strengthening brand loyalty and growing customer lifetime value. Brands who take control and care of the post-purchase experience, including the registration, extended warranty and issue resolution processes, can unlock substantial revenue opportunities.
Registration: The Reason Customers Come Back
Third-party channels provide brand visibility and additional revenue, but brands lose out on invaluable data, insights and profitable long-term customer relationships. To counteract this, brands need a channel to understand and retain their customers, building long-lasting relationships.
Registration allows brands to reclaim and retarget third-party customers directly. Once customers receive their new products, brands can prompt customers to go directly to their website to verify their purchase with key product and contact information and customers can effortlessly register their products within seconds. Equipped with this data, brands can now enhance product, marketing and outreach efforts with personalized recommendations and content that will delight the customer. Brands can also use registration insights to create lookalike audiences and upsell opportunities.
Extended Warranty: The Coverage That Charms Customers
Allied Market Research projects the extended-warranty space to reach $169 billion by 2027. The increasing popularity of extended warranty plans come as consumers demand coverage for purchases such as televisions, refrigerators and more.
But exactly what is an extended product warranty? It’s additional coverage that goes beyond a standard, or manufacturer’s, limited warranty. With extended warranties, brands can inspire customer loyalty with clear coverage terms and painless claims – offering peace of mind when something goes wrong. Extended warranties protect against product failures and often include protection against accidental damage, like dropping a laptop or overloading the washing machine.
Product protection plans build trust. They also give customers another reason to buy directly from brands instead of from a third-party merchant. They help brands own the customer experience again. As a result, brands benefit from a jump in revenue, enhance the likelihood of repeat purchases, all while increasing the lifetime value of the customer.
Claims Management: The Key to Positive Issues Resolutions
When customers file a claim, the last thing they want to do is experience clunky contact forms or long customer service wait times that make issue resolution confusing and unpleasant. Missing documents, human errors and conflicting messages can also add to the frustration customers feel when trying to resolve their product issues.
To solve these pain points, brands need automated, positive claims management processes to reduce chaos and prevent costly mistakes, turning a customer’s negative experience into a positive one. This can be done by replacing chaotic, disconnected spreadsheets and databases with centralized data and automating protocols, connecting purchase data from every channel with the support center. With claims management, brand’s support teams can provide fast and frictionless service that wows customers with simplicity and ease.
Product Ownership Is the Next Evolution of Customer Connection
The combination of product protection, registration and issue resolution is more than the sum of its parts, working together to create seamless purchase experiences. These offerings signal to the customer that the brand is invested in an ideal customer experience that will boost profitability.
Furthermore, brands can maximize post-purchase revenue opportunities by creating scalable first-party data channels. When brands own the customer relationship, they can connect with people who were once out of reach. Using data to design a pleasing post-purchase journey, brands can generate meaningful insights and build direct and profitable relationships with their most valuable customers.
See also: The Sustainability Imperative Comes To Consumer Electronics
