For most companies retaining customers can be a difficult task, these 5 customer retention tips hope to make keeping customers loyal a little bit easier.
Doesn’t every business want to create more loyal customers who continually use their services and love their brand?
However, we all know what usually happens, customers always seem to give the competition a try.
Customer retention is sometimes overlooked and other times not well understood. Nonetheless, this is crucial to every business, even if you serve a niche market. I have found five of the best customer retention strategies to share with you.
What is the best definition of customer retention?
Customer retention is the activity a company undertakes to prevent customers from defecting to alternative companies. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact and continues throughout the entire lifetime of the relationship.
5 Effective customer retention strategies and why they work
Each of these strategies takes some work on your part, but the cost of customer retention is worth it in the long run. Apply them as part of your customer retention plan and watch as your business transforms and takes an upward turn with more loyal customers.
1. Using fanatical customer service for customer retention
We all are customers and we know what best appeals to us from the companies that serve us. Building a fanatical customer service into your product is a pain worth taking. Consider this, you spend so much to acquire the customer, but always experience a higher churn rate. Wouldn’t it be better to invest in keeping them so your costs could be lower? However, most companies don’t; they think it’s not important. Calling to find out if a problem has been solved, returning dropped calls, simple thank you notes, sending mails before customers recognize glitches, etc. are all necessary in giving that awesome customer service anyone would cherish.
2. Loyalty programs to increase customer retention
Customers enjoy loyalty programs. It is a simple and effective way of maintaining customers. This however should not be restricted to customers that have stayed with you for ages. Even a month’s stay on your service can be appreciated. Also, you have to be innovative when it comes to rewarding customers. Study your customer demographics and know what will best appeal to each segment.
3. Make the little things personal
Building a company is not just about selling but also build a personal relationship with your customers. Your sales personnel should be able to establish that relationship. This removes the notion of coming across as just wanting to sell. Moreover, when your personnel build a relationship with customers, it becomes difficult for the customers to move to another service since there is a relationship they don’t want to break. Build a personal brand, and see your company transform.
4. Ask for help from customers, make them part of the solution
When you ask for help from your customers, not only do you show that you are human, you also let them feel cherished. However, don’t just make this a routine. Be sure to use them. Let them know that you are taking measures to implement them. And where possible, give them recognition for contributing to your company. A feature on your website, or a thank you card from the executive team does not hurt the company in any way. At best, it helps you build a reputation as listening to your customers.
5. Staff as customers, know what you do inside and out
It is well-noting that your staff is the first customer you have. They are the first to answer any questions about your product – to customers or the press. Serving your staff well is necessary if you want to keep your customers.
Most companies forget this and keep looking at customers while forgetting the adage “Charity begins at home”. Making sure your staff has the right environment for work, addressing their complaints and building a relationship with them will not only be a step ahead for them, but it will translate into their relationship with your customers.
For most companies, retaining customers is difficult. Simple strategies like the ones outlined here are necessary for having a higher ROI for your company. We spend so much acquiring customers. It is best that we work at our best to keep them and keep churn rate considerably low. By using these effective customer retention strategies you should begin to see how loyal your customers can be.
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