Your customers are basically the heart of your company. You need them in order to stay alive. It's what determines the success or failure of any business. Although you may have the best product out there or the best service in the world, if you don't have the right strategy in place to retain clients your business will simply fail.
You may be thinking, so what? I can just acquire new customers. However, the reality of the situation is:
- It costs 5x more to acquire a new customer.
- The success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%.
- The success rate of selling to a new customer is 5-20%.
- If you increase customer retention rates by 5%, you increase profits by 25-95%.
Think about all the resources you used when you were trying to acquire that customer you currently have. If you lose them, you'll also be throwing away that money you spent in order to convert them.
So how can you retain your customers? Check out these customer retention strategies that can help you stop losing customers and start boosting sales.
1. Start a Customer Loyalty Program
Customers love companies that help them achieve their goals. Especially when it comes to saving money. If your competitor has a better offer than you, chances are your customer will leave you for the competition.
A customer loyalty program rewards customers for their loyalty. It helps you show your customers that you appreciate their business, you have their best interest at heart, and that you care about their dedication to your brand.
Nowadays, the price isn't the only thing that determines whether a client will buy from you or not. Shared values and an emotional connection with a brand also affects a buyer's decision. With a customer loyalty program, you can interact with the customer beyond the initial point of purchase, deliver more value to the customer, and show them that you share the same values.
Make sure to include valuable perks that your competitor's loyalty program doesn't have. This can include free shipping, access to exclusive discounts, loyalty points, and a free gift after a certain amount of purchases. You make the rules.
2. Create an Onboarding Experience
When you get hired at a new place you usually have to go through an onboarding phase before you begin working. The only difference is now you'll be doing one but for your own customers. An onboarding experience will help a new customer get acquainted with the products or services your business offers.
It'll help them learn everything they need to know about your brand straight from the experts rather than learning about it on their own. When consumers don't know how to use a product or service effectively they usually give up and quit.
New customer onboarding programs can be one-on-one phone calls with customers, a home visit from a technician or expert, how-to videos, and email exchanges.
3. Have Limited-Time Offers
A limited-time offer is a discount or special promotion that customers can enjoy if they purchase during a specific time period. This strategy is highly used among retailers and e-commerce stores who are trying to convert customers.
Limited-time offers are a good way to attract customers that are no longer active with your brand. It calls their attention and pressures them to act fast before this special offer is gone. Customers are more likely to buy a product when it's on sale for a limited-time because they don't want to miss out on the opportunity.
Think about some of your favorite brands or the stores you buy from the most. Do they flood your inbox with special promotions during the holidays, certain seasons, and specific months? How do those promotions make you feel and have they worked on you?
4. Outstanding Customer Service
Remarkable customer service is vital to optimize a customer's experience. This is a major area where a business loses or wins. When a customer is happy with the service they received, they are more likely to keep buying from you and promote you.
A unique customer service experience can set you apart from the competition and it's important to keep these 3 things in mind:
- Understand your customers
- Be available
- Provide solutions
5. Set Up Marketing Automation
When it comes to your marketing strategy, make automation your best friend. Marketing automation allows you to optimize customer retention by sending strategized messages during key points along the customer's journey.
Personalized communication offers a great advantage because it creates an emotional connection between you and your customer. Automation brings businesses multiple solutions to retain customers and expand acquisition efforts.
One of the most common uses of marketing automation is the abandoned cart follow-up. An abandoned cart is a problem most e-commerce stores face. Shoppers will fill up their shopping cart and all of a sudden get distracted and leave the page without making a purchase.
When this happens, marketing automation will then email the customer and offer promotions or discounts, remind them about their cart, suggest similar products, or offer basic customer service information that will aid their shopping experience.
6. Go Above and Beyond
Exceeding your customer's expectations is important. However, you have to tackle this strategy carefully. The higher the expectations from your customer, the more difficult it is for you to exceed them. In order to avoid being on their bad side, under-promise and over-deliver.
This doesn't mean you're going to tell your customer you can't do something or you don't know if you'll be able to deliver. Simply state what you can do and exceed their exceptions by surprising them or overdelivering.
Going above and beyond for your client will leave a lasting impact on their overall experience with your brand and it will certainly help you gain more business.