How can you use after-sales data to identify technological and digital trends?

1 Why after-sales data matters

After-sales data provides more than just a measure of customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also reveals how customers use your products or services, their interactions with your brand, and how they respond to your marketing and sales efforts. By collecting and analyzing after-sales data, you can identify patterns, gaps, and anomalies that indicate industry trends and customer expectations. For example, you can use after-sales data to discover new features desired by customers, monitor usage across different channels, platforms, and devices, evaluate the effectiveness of sales training and support programs, identify new segments or markets to target or expand into, and benchmark your performance against competitors and industry standards.

2 How to collect after-sales data

When it comes to collecting after-sales data from customers, there are several methods you can use depending on your goals, resources, and capabilities. Surveys and feedback forms, reviews and ratings, customer service and support, and analytics and tracking are all popular methods. For example, you can use SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for surveys and feedback forms, ReviewTrackers or Yotpo for reviews and ratings, Zendesk or Freshdesk for customer service and support, and Google Analytics or Hotjar for analytics and tracking. Collecting after-sales data can help you understand customer satisfaction, experience, and suggestions. It can also help you track how customers use your products or services, navigate your website or app, and engage with your marketing and sales campaigns.

3 How to analyze after-sales data

Once you have collected enough after-sales data, analyzing it to extract meaningful insights and trends is necessary. To do this, you can use data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or Data Studio to create charts, graphs, dashboards, and reports that communicate your data clearly. Additionally, you can apply data mining tools like RapidMiner, KNIME, or Weka to discover patterns and relationships in the data. Furthermore, you can use Excel, R, or Python to create and test hypotheses and scenarios. Lastly, you can use data storytelling tools like Storytelling with Data, Narrative Science, or Datawrapper to craft narratives that explain and persuade your audience with the data.

4 How to act on after-sales data

The final step is to use your after-sales data to inform and improve your sales operations decisions and actions. By leveraging this data, you can identify and prioritize sales goals and objectives based on customer needs, preferences, and feedback. Additionally, you can design and implement sales strategies and tactics based on customer behavior, expectations, and trends. This data can also be used to develop and deliver sales training, coaching, and support programs based on customer skills, knowledge, and performance. Furthermore, you can evaluate and optimize sales processes and systems based on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Finally, you can innovate and differentiate products and services based on customer demands, challenges, and opportunities.

5 How to leverage after-sales data for sales performance and coaching

After-sales data can be a powerful tool to enhance your sales performance and coaching, providing you with valuable insights and feedback. It can help you align your sales team with customer needs and expectations, motivate and incentivize them, and educate and empower them with the latest technological and digital trends. You can also use after-sales data to monitor and measure your sales team's progress based on customer usage and engagement, as well as recognize and reward their achievements based on customer reviews and ratings. By utilizing after-sales data to identify technological and digital trends, you can stay ahead of the curve in adapting to changing customer needs and expectations. This data can give your sales team the tools, skills, and feedback they need to succeed in the digital age.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?