Simply put, if you work on customer retention, you’ll make more money
As an entrepreneur, you know the importance of customer retention. It’s not enough to have a catchy product or service – you need to keep your customers happy and coming back for more.
This blog post is about 12 of the best customer retention strategies that businesses should implement as soon as possible.
What is customer retention?
In general, customer retention is the process of keeping customers from switching to a competitor’s product or service. This means that companies want their current customers to remain with them and not make any changes for whatever reason.
There are many ways businesses engage in this practice: they offer lower prices, do promotions on products they know will interest the customer based on past purchases, give personalized offers based on past purchase history or send out coupons for future use.
The most important thing about customer retention is that business owners need to understand which strategies work best for their specific business model and industry.
It’s no coincidence that the most successful companies in the world invest so much money and time into customer retention. Businesses know that customers are their lifeblood, and without them, they would not exist.
Why is customer retention so important?
The benefits of customer retention are endless. A company can see a large increase in revenue and profits, as well as lower marketing costs by keeping customers happy. There is also the potential for increased company brand awareness and improved employee morale. It’s never too late to start focusing on customer retention!
12 strategies to improve customer retention
1. Surprise your customers
There are very few times that anyone would turn down a nice surprise. Your current customers would appreciate it and so will your possible new ones. But when it comes to retention, seeing the needs of your current clients is very important.
A survey held by Loyalty 360 showed that 68% of new business comes from old customers. In the same way, 12 – 15% of customers are loyal to a single retail group, but they supply more than 50% of the sales.
Surprises can be in the form of exclusive discounts, or a small birthday gift. It can also be a voucher of some sort. You don’t have to spend a fortune on the surprise that you want to give your loyal customer. Instead, this is just a way to remind them that you sincerely value them and their support.
2. Keep them informed with a newsletter
Email newsletters are a great way to keep your customers in the know of everything like specials and more. You can retain customers by keeping the communications going through all platforms including an email newsletter. This keeps your business “top of mind” which is so important in our busy lives.
A company’s newsletter will also serve as a reminder to your customers so that they don’t forget your brand. Subconsciously, they will be thinking about your products and brand throughout their time with you.
3. Deliver on promises
When looking at customer retention strategies, it’s important to know that you cannot make empty promises. This will really hurt your reputation and that of the brand you represent.
For example, don’t tell your customer that you make delivery turnaround time in 24hours when it’s going to take 48 hours to do so. Rather inform them that the turnaround time is 72 hours and then make their day by delivering it sooner.
“Under promise and over-deliver” is the famous words of Tom Peters. In this way, you continue to strengthen the trust that is already established between you and your existing customer.
4. Devise a system dedicated to queries
In order to improve your services to your customers, you have to find out what upsets them and what makes them happy. A robust query system will give customers the opportunity to voice their concerns and experience with the brand.
But, don’t stop at that, you should also make a way to solve their problem. Fix whatever got them to complain in the first place. Remember, this is part of communications with your customers.
5. Respond quickly
Response time is very important to customers. They sometimes only have a limited amount of time before they change their mind or decide to go with something else. Try to shorten the response time to accommodate speedy solutions to your loyal customers.
Speedy service and response time always scores great points with customers and potential customers. This goes for answering telephone calls to responding to messages on social media.
6. Valuable upsells can help them too
As part of your customer retention strategy, sometimes adding valuable upsells before your customer checks out can benefit not only you but the customer as well. If you know what their needs are, for example, they’ve purchased a tablet device, it’d be a good idea to offer a protective cover for their new device.
Upselling increases revenue and if the items work in their favour, they will definitely tell others about it.
7. Solve problems quickly
If the service is slow and problems don’t get solved, the same way the loyal customers spread the news about the brand, they will also share how bad the service was. You have to be very careful of this as it could spread quickly and people that haven’t even tried your product may change their minds because they trust their friend over your brand.
8. Get feedback
It’s not only down to making your customers feel appreciated and valued, but instead, you need to constantly learn more about them. To provide them with the best services and products, getting to know your customers on a personal level will help.
For example, create polls or surveys so that they can give their valuable feedback. Some entrepreneurs would reward the loyal customers with a surprise after taking the survey.
9. Give them loyalty rewards
A loyalty rewards program is always a winner for keeping customers coming back for more. They’re don’t have to feel like it’s just them spending money at your store if in fact they’re are getting something out of it.
Loyalty programs can boost customer retention.
Customer loyalty programs can include a points system that adds up each time, they shop from your store. At a certain time, they’ll receive a discount based on the points accrued. This doesn’t make sense for all business models, but it’s something you could consider based on your specific needs.
10. Don’t skip out on valuable content for your customers
Your loyal customers are often following what your business could be up to. Thus, they would be reading the blogs and newsletter and maybe even join your social media platforms. Make sure that the content you provide is worth their time. It should be informative and something they’d want to take time to read.
11. Keep engagement levels high
It’s easy to get busy and have to begin multitasking and hopping from one thing to another. When it comes to your customers, if you don’t have the time to engage with them by yourself, then there are agencies or customer success personal that you could hire to do this.
Having that constant communication and engagement is crucial to the retention and continued loyalty of your customers.
12. Observe your customer lifetime value
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) helps you to monitor the value of your customer over a period of time. Whom of those customers spends more and regularly compared to those who aren’t regular buyers.
This is a good way to see how much profit you’re possibly going to make and which of these customers should be targeted with a bit more intention.
The takeaway to customer retention strategies
If you’ve been struggling to retain customers, we hope these tips will help but remember, this is not an exhaustive list! There are plenty of other ways for you to increase customer loyalty and keep them coming back time and again.
See which ones have or could work well for your company and tweak your strategies to make them work even better in the future.
