When it comes to the success of your business, acquiring customers is one thing. But if you really want to make a big impact, you’re going to need to find a way to turn those new customers into loyal customers. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as it sounds.
In fact, customer retention marketing has become one of the go-to strategies for businesses in recent years. Stats have shown that acquiring customers is actually more expensive, more difficult and less profitable than retaining them, which means your strategy needs to change if you want to stay competitive in your industry.
And we’ve got just the trick.
Here are five essential methodologies that will help you to focus on retaining customers.
1. Listen to your customers
Customers don’t like being ignored. As a matter of fact, 68% of customers will leave a business not because of a bad experience, but rather because of perceived indifference. This means that showing your customers you’re listening to them is vital in facilitating a loyal customer base.
That’s not all, though. Listening to your customers not only makes them feel appreciated, but it also provides you with some seriously actionable insight into how your business runs.
Whether it’s a negative review drawing attention to a significant pain point in your purchase process or a positive review pointing out one of your best qualities, listening to your customers can markedly improve how you do business on a day-to-day basis.
However, not all customers are willing to provide this insight without prompting. This is where you can take a truly proactive approach, by soliciting customer feedback as often as possible. Whether it be automated review requests or survey blasts, encouraging your customers to provide feedback is an essential means of learning more about what your business does right – and what it does wrong.
2. Make it personal
Listening to your customers is one way to appreciate them, but personalisation is another strategy that can seriously make them feel welcomed in your online community. Something as simple as a correctly spelled first name on a newsletter email, or as complicated as a tailored recommendation section on your website, can encourage new customers to come back for more.
And the stats back us up on this one too.
According to multiple studies, 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a website offering a personalised experience. Additionally, 90% of customers insist that personalisation inherently makes a website more attractive, which should be more than enough to convince you that customers love it when you take their interests (and their names) into consideration.
3. Build an email list
This strategy is a bit more specific than the others, but it rings just as true. Email has become the undeniable king of marketing tools for businesses, regardless of industry, and getting on board is a surefire way to retain customers.
Whether it be a monthly newsletter or a robust email marketing campaign, just staying in touch with customers can help you develop a loyal customer base. Plus, 87% of marketers are using email to reach their customers, so it’s safe to say that the world has adopted the strategy for good reason.
As far as return on investment is concerned, you have nothing to worry about. According to research, every dollar you spend on email marketing has an average return of $42, which is a staggering number compared to most other forms of marketing.
4. Take support seriously
If you’re trying to retain customers, the best way to do so is by keeping your customers happy. How do you keep your new customers happy? By investing in customer support, obviously.
The reality is that unhappy customers are never going to become loyal customers, so heading them off at the pass is the best way to turn them over to your side. If they have to sit on the phone for an hour to get a simple answer about their account, you can be sure they won’t be making a repeat purchase – particularly when 68% of customers leave a business if they feel neglected.
5. Automate everything
We know this sounds like a lot. Investing in customer support, personalisation, email marketing, and customer feedback certainly takes a lot of effort and resources to implement properly.
However, if you take advantage of automation, you can make it easier than you could ever imagine – without breaking the bank.
CRM software, for instance, can personalise customer emails, improve support efforts, and solicit customer feedback – all without anyone in your company having to take the time to do so. These automation features are designed to save you time and money throughout the customer journey, leaving you and your employees to tackle the big picture problems that are bound to rear their ugly heads in the business world.
Your customer experience are the keys to customer retention
You might be seeing a recurring theme throughout the tips we just covered. They're centred around your customer and geared to provide them with the best possible experience.
Interested in reading more about how you can improve your customer experience? From what the 21st century consumer wants to exceeding expectations using the right strategy and technology, we have a resource that covers it all.
Click the button below to access the all-in-one guide and start learning.
About the author:
Conor Cawley is the Senior Writer for Tech.co. For the last four years, he’s written about everything from Kickstarter campaigns and budding startups to tech titans and innovative technologies. His extensive background in stand-up comedy made him the perfect person to host tech-centric events like Startup Night at SXSW and the Timmy Awards for Tech in Motion. Get in touch with him here.