6 Simple Ways To Retain Your Customers (And Keep Them Coming Back For More)

October 27, 2020

6 Simple Ways To Retain Your Customers (And Keep Them Coming Back For More)

Customer retention is often overlooked by brands. Businesses are embroiled in a never-ending battle with competitors as they fight over that precious initial sale – but the real victory comes in retaining that customer, boosting their lifetime value (LTV) and securing their long-term loyalty.

The value in this really speaks for itself. It costs 16 times more to build a long-term relationship with a new customer than it does to hold on to an existing one, with just a 5% boost in customer retention increasing profits by between 25%-95%

So, how do you ensure your customers keep coming back for more? Join us in exploring six customer retention strategies primed to convert your existing customer base into loyal long-term customers.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Align products and services with customer needs

First things first: how do you expect your customers to keep coming back if you’ve got nothing to offer?

While it may sound simple, make sure you’ve conducted thorough market research to better understand what your audience is searching for and how you can provide the solution. While your customer may like your brand, if your range of goods or services offers no appeal following their initial purchase, what incentive do they have to buy with your brand again?

From polls to Q&As, utilise community engagement platforms like ours to conduct valuable research and source useful data from those who really matter – your customers.

Champion customer service

Never underestimate the power of good customer service as an effective customer retention strategy.

With 65% of consumers revealing that a positive experience is more important than great advertising in influencing their purchasing habits, top-drawer customer service may well be a more effective means of customer retention than any repeat sale marketing campaign.

So, ensure a complete 360°customer service model that accommodates every type of customer at every stage of the sales process – and you can learn how to do that right here.

Action customer feedback

Customers like their voices to be heard.

With this in mind, actively promoting feedback and properly considering relevant customer requests, advice and opinions is a great form of customer retention – after all, it’s a great way of keeping the happy customers happy and turning unhappy customers’ frowns upside down.

To keep customer satisfaction consistently high, be sure to show your appreciation for positive customer feedback and go above and beyond to resolve negative feedback.

While the latter will, of course, depend on the situation at hand, even something as simple as a sincere apology can go a long way in improving customer experience. Going the extra mile, though – through actions such as refunds, freebies or future discounts – could be your golden ticket to turning an unhappy customer into one who comes back for more.

Personalise your marketing

Email marketing is an incredibly effective tool for customer retention.

After the initial conversion, the real perk of customer retention marketing is that the hard work is already done for you – you already have the contact details and customer preference information you need.

Look to utilise this data to better inform your email campaigns, personalising everything from discounts based on purchasing history to email topics based on browsing activity.

The trick is to ensure your customer retention strategy is driven by data. Paired with all of the usual email marketing best practices, a personalised email campaign is sure to turn one-time buyers into loyal, long-term customers.

Acknowledge repeat customers

Of course, sometimes your brand and products do the work for you – meaning some customers will provide recurring business without the need for incentive.

In these instances, don’t just write this off as a ‘quick win’. Instead, ensure you’re nurturing the relationship by showing your appreciation. For B2C businesses, this could come in the form of automated thank you messages, exclusive discounts and more. For B2B, you could offer collaborations on anything from case studies to webinars.

Be the heart of your community

Of all the customer retention strategies, there’s perhaps nothing more effective than building a strong brand community.

While you can learn all about the fundamentals of nurturing a brand community here, the key takeaway is to position yourself at the very heart of your community – the central hub for all things related to your brand and sector.

Perhaps the most powerful way of achieving this is through sharing your knowledge to position your brand as an industry leader in the eyes of your customers. Share relevant testimonials and experiences while creating content that directly addresses customer pain points.

Do this successfully and you’ll see your customers begin to view your brand as the number one provider of your goods or service, meaning they’re far more likely to shop with you again as a result.

Customer retention strategies should be a core part of any brand’s digital marketing plan. To learn more about how the Six Circles community engagement platform can help with your customer retention, get in touch to request your free demo today.

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