Manufacturers have been facing incredible pressure for the last few years: rising costs due to inflation, disrupted supply chains, limited materials and shrinking margins, just to name a few of the difficulties plaguing the industry. 

So how can manufacturers overcome these challenges and continue to grow their business? 

Tap into growing aftersales revenue.
 

How Focusing on Aftersales Benefits Manufacturers 

The customer’s journey is not finished when the purchase is completed. Far from it. Manufacturers can tap into huge profits simply by serving their customers past their initial purchase. 

Aftersales is:

• 20-50% more profitable for manufacturers in comparison to new machine sales. 
• Securing high margins, with the potential to deliver over 50% of a manufacturer’s profit.
• Operating at 2.5 times the operating margin of new equipment sales. 

It’s clear that aftersales is becoming imperative to manufacturing success, but how can manufacturers begin to tap into aftersales revenue? 

3 Ways Aftersales Can Increase Revenue 

In order for manufacturers to grow their revenue from aftersales, they’ll need to improve the experience post-purchase so that customers want to continue purchasing. Manufacturers can do this by: 

1. Streamlining Spare Parts Ordering 
   What happens when customers need a new part or to replace an existing part? Do they know which part they need to purchase? Can they easily find what they need? These difficulties often mean that supporting spare parts sales on large equipment portfolios can be very costly.
   
   However, manufacturers that are able to accelerate and simplify this process not only can increase average order value, but also raise customer satisfaction and retention.
   
   Make spare parts handling easier by allowing customers to: 
   • Filter catalogs and parts according to compatibility with purchased machines 
   • Find and drill down to specific parts visually through exploding diagrams in order to make the correct purchase  
   • Order parts in bulk by uploading a CSV file, importing SKUs from previous orders, or requisition from wish lists  
   • Approve orders with workflows tailored towards specific organizations and roles 
      
2. Reducing Customer Support Costs with Self-Service 

   What happens if customers can’t find the parts or the materials they need? Manufacturers lose valuable time and resources when customers need to reach out to reps for information that should be readily available.
   
   So if customers can handle more of the aftersales process on their own, then sales teams are free to use their resources and time to close new deals or focus on other high-value activities.
   
   By empowering customers to easily reorder, check their order statuses, and look up order history, sales teams can use their time more effectively and customers feel more in control of their own experience. 

    

   Customers are already very used to self-service in their personal lives and will bring those expectations to their manufacturing and B2B experiences. While it may not be helpful for all interactions, self-service can help offload much of the busy-work that plague sales teams.

3. Using a Single Solution to Deliver Better Customer Experiences 

   But customers don’t want to order on a separate platform, access information through a different system, and then talk to support representatives through another channel. This switching is not only confusing for customers, but also becomes very costly for the manufacturer.
   
   By unifying important resources and content together, manufacturers can offer their customers a single solution that houses not only the parts they need to purchase, but also: 

   • Unify account information including owned products, order history, product catalog, and spare parts ordering
   • Onboarding and training materials so customers can learn how to get the most value from their products immediately 
   • Easily accessible FAQs and documentation to deflect tickets and claims
   • Ticketing, scheduling maintenance visits, and warranty claim validation processes

Increasing Aftersales with a Customer Portal 

How can manufacturers effectively bring all these elements together? With a customer portal.  

A single customer solution will empower manufacturers to not only house all critical information together, but also empower customers to purchase, manage, and monitor through a unified tool. Now, manufacturers will be able to grow revenue for the business in a cost-controlled and efficient manner that also gives customers the excellent experiences they’re looking for. 

See how you can use Liferay to build an effective customer portal that will increase aftersales revenue here.