Staying ahead of competitors in this age of digital transformation is a challenging task for businesses out there. Businesses these days tend to focus more on attracting new customers amid which, they are failing to retain their previous customers.
No doubt, attracting new customers is crucial but retaining the old ones and having loyal customers is also of paramount importance and should not be missed at all. It is the loyal customers which keep the business thriving and open the revenue streams for them.
Retaining customers is not as easy as it seems for businesses. Merely impressing them with the products or services will not do anything unless you come up with effective and practical customer retention strategies. The more you retain customers, the more will be the website traffic.
Let’s have an insight into the strategies that will work wonders for you to retain your customers and provide them with an amazing customer experience.
About Customer Retention
In simple words, customer retention refers to the process of preventing customers from going to the competitors and giving them such offers that they stay lured to your products and services only.
On average, 44% of the business focus on attracting new customers, and only 18% focus on retaining customers. But the fact is that businesses should emphasize both new customers as well retaining the old ones to keep their business thriving.
Significance of Customer Retention
The majority of businesses doubt the importance of retaining customers and prioritize attracting new customers. But the real profit lies in retaining the customers. Here’s why customer retention is important and should be the top concern of businesses.
More spendings
The survey conducted on the customers revealed that repeat customers tend to spend more than new customers. The statistics revealed that customers are likely to spend 40% more than the first purchase. Consequently, businesses should emphasize retaining their previous customers.
Loyalty and word of mouth
Retaining customers will also do your promotion by way of word of mouth. The happy customers not only stay loyal to your brand but also recommend your brand to family, friends, and relatives to purchase from you.
Customer Retention Strategies
As we mentioned, retaining customers is not a cup of tea and demands an effective customer retention strategy in place. Here are some crucial customer retention strategies that will work wonders for your business.
Defining expectations
Defining the customer’s expectations at the outset is crucial to retain them for a longer time. When we speak of customers’ expectations, it includes expectations regarding deliveries and time to expect responses regarding the products.
This is something that will ensure your credibility with the customers and will make them retain your brand.
Communication channel
Communicating with your customers at regular intervals is crucial for the success of the business. Usually what businesses do is emphasize getting new customers and forget to stay in touch with the existing ones.
Consequently, the best alternative, in this case, is creating a communication schedule to stay connected with your customers. It can go a long way in keeping the customers happy and retaining them.
Rewards Program
Rewarding your customers from time to time can also keep them encouraged to stay tuned to your products and services. Businesses can reward their customers in the form of discounts, offers, coupons, and whatnot to reward them for their loyalty towards you.
Besides the rewards program, you can also have a referral program for your customers. The referral program is where you offer discounts or some add ons services to your customers if they refer you further to other companies or people.
Quick response on feedback
No matter how occupied the businesses are, the businesses should make time to know what their customers think about their business. Businesses can get to know the feedback of customers through email surveys and regular communication.
The feedback from the customers will let you know the areas in which you lag and the areas where you need to improve. The crucial thing to bear in mind while collecting feedback is not to ask them right back after they availed of your service.
Instead of this, you can check them after some days and request their feedback to further improve your customer experience.
Track key performance indicators
The majority of businesses fail to realize that it is crucial to keep track of the key performance indicators to retain your customers. Usually, businesses tend to leave the service because of the total amount of customer churn.
Consequently, it is important to track and monitor the key performance indicators to ensure your customer stays with you.
Add personalization
The trend of personalization has touched nearly everyone and there is no doubt about this. No matter how superior a product or service is, it will not make its way to the customer’s hearts unless you add a touch of personalization to it.
Customers feel more connected to a particular brand when the businesses understand their unique needs and expectations. The statistics reveal that 76% of customers are likely to retain if you offer personalized products or services.
Consequently, always figure out if there’s any opportunity to customize offerings for your customers and make them lured to your business.
Customer experience
How you treat your customers matters the most while crafting customer retention strategies. The statistics reveal that around 99% of companies are on the lookout for SaaS providers be it CMS tools or cloud applications.
You can show the right direction to the customers with the help of tutorials and knowledge bases. Doing so will showcase your value to your customers which in turn will retain them.
Leverage data
You need to leverage data from customers who leave your product or business and move to the competitors to improve your customer retention rate. When the customer leaves, it does not matter that your solution is not right. There might be numerous other reasons for the same.
The shift might be on account of the changing business needs of the clients and also the availability of the budget. Along with this, do ask your customers the reason for leaving, or what issue they are finding in your services.
Getting to know such things from the customers gives you an insight into what they feel about your brand.
Wrapping Up
Customer retention is a serious issue that every business should take note of. Implement the above-discussed strategies to improve your customer retention rate and give them the experience they are looking for. This in turn will give you a competitive advantage over your competitors and increase your conversions.