When you look at the numbers, customer retention beats customer acquisition any day of the week. In fact, increasing customer retention by a mere 5 percent boosts profits by 25 to 95 percent according to a study by Bain & Co. Although both are important practices for every business out there, many struggle with the former simply because they don’t know how to go about cultivating customer loyalty. Here are a few key things you should work on in order to improve your customer retention skills.
Build Lasting Relationships
Easier said than done and much easier in some industries than others, building relationships with your clients is essential to being the go-to choice that they remember each time they or someone they know is in need of your products/services. These relationships can’t be built overnight, though. It’s an on-going process and something your staff must be continuously working on. Understand their needs and how your business can fulfill them.
Once you make a sale, follow-up with them to show that you care. Don’t be the business that goes silent as soon as their card has been swiped. Reach out to them to offer advice, guidance, and collect feedback. In doing so, you will improve their overall experience and perception of you and your product.
Layout their expectations
When a customer walks through your doors, it’s important that you are on the same level as they are. In other words, you need to actively work on setting realistic expectations for your customers and then achieving them on a consistent basis. That will vastly improve the customer experience.
Under promise and then try to over-deliver and you will always leave customers happily impressed. At the very least, deliver everything promised to them because overpromising and underdelivering will only lead to a very negative reputation.
Tailor your messaging
A study by Accenture revealed that nearly 80 percent of companies spend less than 30 percent of their time and budget on customer-retention focused messaging and content. Although you might be selling the same or similar products/services to different markets, that doesn’t mean you can keep your message the same as you sell to these different markets. You need to tailor your messaging to fit each customer and highlight how your products and services are going to match their specific needs and desires.
Participate in customer education
Today, buyers put themselves through a long process of self-education before they bite the bullet on most purchases. With the internet and all the resources out there, it’s extremely easy for them to inform themselves about your business and industry. However, you don’t want your competitor to be the one giving them all that information.
By focusing on customer education, you can be the one to teach customers what they need to know and, in turn, it will reflect positively on your authority and presence.
Seek feedback
If you want to figure out what your customers really want from you, it’s not that hard. Following up with your customers and collecting feedback is a great way to show that your business cares. Whether you are individually reaching out to high-value clients or sending out a survey through your next email marketing campaign, asking for their input will make them feel important and valued by your business. It can also get you very far with your product and brand development.
Incentivize repeat business
“Loyalty programs” date back to nearly the beginning of business itself. By incentivizing people to continue to come back and use your services, you are going to see a massive increase in repeat purchases with very little effort on your part. After all, it has been shown loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones.
However, traditional loyalty programs and punch cards are being phased out fast. In the modern world, you need a digital loyalty program that your customers can take with them in their pocket. Loopy Loyalty is there to help empower your business with a mobile loyalty program to foster repeat business, build relationships, and increase your sales with a modern interface.
