Step Five of Funnel Creation: Return Path
The Return Path is the final Customer Value Optimization (CVO) step; increasing the number of transactions per customer. The goal of the Return Path is to have frequent, strategic communication with your buyers and prospects that cause them to buy again and again. That is what you want far more than new customers, repeat customers.
Definition: The Return Path is the tactics used to bring existing customers back into your sales funnels.
The Return Path is about increasing transaction frequency with your customers. If you have a funnel in place there will be some customers that will go all the way through purchasing each offer. For all others you will need to have a solid follow-up in place.
You also need to create systems by which you can notify existing customers and prospects of new offers you have available.
The big tactic here is, of course, email marketing. But retargeting, remarketing, loyalty programs, custom audiences in Facebook and all forms of organic social media are also great ways to get people to come back and buy more often.
Because you have received their contact information through the Lead Magnet you have the ability to continue marketing.
The Return Path is anything that brings the customer or prospect back more frequently including…
• Exit Offers
• Organic Social Media (like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)
• Loyalty Programs
• Content Marketing
• Outbound Sales Calling
• Ad Retargeting (More on ad retargeting here)
… but none is more powerful than automated email follow-up.
Exit Offer Ideas
- Offer a New Lead Magnet
- Highlight an Unadvertised Bonus
- Quiz/Survey
- Sale/Discount
- Make a New Appeal
You can offer new Lead Magnets, Tripwires, Core Offers and Profit Maximizers because you have permission to market to them or bring them back to the Tripwire, Core Offer or Profit Maximizer that they didn’t buy the first time around to increase the average customer value. You need to have proven campaigns in your“bag of tricks” that you can implement to generate additional revenue from the traffic and leads you are already receiving.