How to Increase Customer Retention?

When you hear the question “ what is better than acquiring one new customer?”

Your first answer will be “ nothing is better than that”
But to your surprise, there is something better than acquiring one new customer, and that is acquiring two new customers.

It sounds like a trick question, how can you create a customer retention strategy that keeps your current customers happy, satisfied, and engaged, and attract new potential customers?

In this article, we will discuss the meaning of customer retention, and how important it is to your business, and what are the strategies that you should follow.

In this article, we will give you some tips and tricks on how big brands succeed in retaining their customers and keep them loyal. From leveraging convenience to prioritizing personalization, these are elements of any customer success team or marketer can take and test today.

 

First, we will discuss the meaning of customer retention.

What Is Customer Retention?

 

Customer retention basically means keeping your current customers and encourage them to re-purchase your company’s product and service.

Customer retention strategies is a specific initiative or set of initiatives that redesigned to increase customer value and encourage them to repurchase your product or service.
Customer retention programs can be company-led, such as instituting a customer onboarding process, or customer-led, such as downloading and using a mobile app to make purchases.

 

Why should you care about existing customers?

Every business needs new customers, it is as clear as that. Although that the way to do so is crystal clear, yet many business owners oversee it.

The easiest and most predictable source for new leads and new revenue comes from existing customers who already know your business, who have purchased your products before, and already knows about your company and everything.

There are some main points why you should care about your existing customer and why customer retention is so important for your business, here are 5 reasons why you should care about existing customers:

1. Conversion Rates Increasing
Existing customers will buy from you again every time unless they got a disappointing experience with your company.

You have already established trust with your current customers, inspired confidence in your product, and even know something about them, which makes it easier to identify their needs and predict their moves.

2. Less marketing
YOu already have a list of customers that know who you are, you don’t need an awareness campaign to let new customers know you.

3. Improvement Room
Retaining your current customers will give you a golden opportunity to improve your service and products, and gain your customer satisfaction easily by just listening to your customer’s feedback. Just ask, listen, and improve.

4. Cut Your Costs

According to the latest researchers, attracting new customers will cost your company 5-25 times more than keeping and retaining your existing customers.

 

How to Retain Your Customers?

In the following few lines, we will give you some ideas on how you can retain your customers.

If you are not sure where to start the following list will give you a heads up on where to start, these are some retention programs you can implement at your business.

1. Onboarding Program

Onboarding program is a successful function that you can implant in your company. In the Onboarding program, you will teach your new customers how to use your products or service. Rather than learning that by themselves, one of your company’s representatives who ho personalizes the training according to their needs, will help them through this process.
The onboarding program has proven its success as it prevents churn with new customers. It prevents that first frustration that your new customers feel when using your product for the first time.
The onboarding program ensures customers know how to utilize your products or services so they can complete their goals on time.

2. Customer Loyalty Program

Focusing on new customers, and trying to help them not to get confused while using your service or product for the first time is good, but try not to forget about your current and loyal customers as well.

Through a customer loyalty program, you can reward your current customers for their continued loyalty. Try a bonus program, the more they shop the more they gain points and get rewarded after all. This keeps customers happy because they’re getting more from the experience than just your product or service.

3. Company Newsletter
Sending a weekly or monthly newsletter is a simple and cost-less way to retain your customers.

You can use this email newsletter to send updates or offers to all of your customers at once. The good news that you don’t have to manually update the content or remember to click send.
Although a newsletter is a simple way to retain your customers, it reminds customers of your brand every time they open their inbox, It has still been overlooked by many businesses.

4. Customer Education Program

A customer education program demonstrates a long-term investment in your customer base. Under this initiative, your business creates a variety of customer self-service tools like a knowledge base and a community forum. Then, customers use these features to locate solutions to service problems before reaching out to your support team.

This program can extend beyond your products and services as well. For example, HubSpot Academy courses cover generic marketing, sales, and customer service topics. That way, HubSpotters know not only how to use the tools, but also how to use them in their everyday workflow. We’ll discuss HubSpot Academy later on, but this approach has become a proven strategy for optimizing customer success.

All of these programs can be done inhouse, by your company in house team, or it can be done through an outsourced company, that can save your time and effort and retain your customers and gain new customers for you.