Did you know that it is 7x less expensive to retain an existing customer than it is to gain a new one?
In our last blog, we discussed how a new Customer is led to purchase and how the sales funnel works. Let’s be honest, we all know and love the buzz of gaining a shiny new customer! but what about the customers you already have? Unfortunately, a lot of businesses make the mistake of overlooking the customers they already have, often putting all their focus, budget, business development and marketing on getting new clients rather than retaining their existing ones.
These businesses are missing a trick! Why?
Retaining customers has huge benefits, some of them being:
- More cost effective than gaining new ones.
- A lot less effort than attracting, nurturing and converting new clients.
- Better to build relationships and reputation with long standing loyal customers.
- Creates brand ambassadors, if you do a fantastic job, they will be sure to recommend you to others.
Here are our top tips to ensure you engage, delight and keep those all-important loyal customers:
- Implement and use your CRM. This is one thing I am a complete advocate of at Evolve Together and it is usually one of the first things I ask! ‘Have you got a CRM?’ A CRM is one of the most important tools in helping to retain clients. You can store all of the important information on there, such as packages, likes/dislikes, potential products/services that could be suitable for them in the future, contacts of relevant people, the list goes on! All of this will help you to provide seamless communication that is tailored to them.
- Keep in touch! Not only is it great for relationship building and brand building, it also allows you to stay front of mind and ahead of potential competition! You can also communicate with your customers things like; latest news, offers, or helpful and relevant information. Some of the best ways to do this are email marketing such as a weekly newsletter, social media and producing other content such as blogs, videos and podcasts for them to consume and enjoy.
- Stay active on social media! Your social media is the perfect opportunity to keep in touch with your customers and maintain contact easily. Social media offers an opportunity to engage your customers and build further trust and brand awareness by showing your other products, services, offers and even the more personal side to you as a person.
- Reward your customers. It is important to ensure your customers feel ‘appreciated’ you can do this simply by showing your appreciation! Whether that is a simple thank you message for a recommendation, a gift for a special occasion, or a lead and recommendation for them just because! If you are a larger corporation you could consider things like loyalty programs or automatic rewards at certain intervals.
- Build relationships! A huge proportion of customer satisfaction is placed on relationships and emotional values such as; friendliness, familiarity, trust and comfort. So ensuring you nurture these relationships is hugely important.
- Promote them! When they succeed, so do you! You can do this easily on social media by sharing a review on their service, or recommending what a great product or service they provide. You never know who knows who, or who may need them.
- Be authentic. You gained the client as they were attracted to your products, service and brand. Your brand is about your logos, fonts and colours as much as it is about you as a person. So it is important to remember who you are as a brand and business and stay true to this throughout.
Never underestimate the value of effective customer retention. Maintaining the above and an overall positive experience for your customer is really the key to business longevity and maximum return on investment.
At Evolve Together, we understand that business success depends on this and therefore we work with our clients to not only attract new customers but also to coach and implement ways to retain their existing customers. Usually starting with a fantastic CRM!
If you need help with implementing customer retention strategies or feel this is something you need to improve on please get in touch:
