Customers are the lifeblood of any business. That much is obvious. For many outlets, their main focus is on attracting new customers. You can see this with everything from online casinos to mobile phone networks, where they offer enticing welcome bonuses to get people to purchase their products or services for the first time.
However, it’s vital for a successful business to not forget about their current customers. In fact, current customers can be 25 times cheaper to retain than going after new customers. Furthermore, simply improving customer retention by just 5% can reportedly result in a 25% to 95% boost to company profits.
To enhance customer retention, here are five tactics your business should add to your repertoire.
1. Stay in touch
Yes, it’s an unmistakable point, but too many companies forget to stay in touch with their customers. Now you don’t want to spam your audience with messages every day. That’s an easy way to turn them away from your business and for your emails to end up in their spam bin. Yet if you have interesting information to provide, such as promotions and new product updates, ensure your current customers know about it.
2. Improve communication channels
Extending on from the previous tactic, it’s essential your communication channels are on-point. There are various ways to communicate with customers. Most will center this around email messaging, but there are many reasons why you should expand into other areas and have a healthy mix of channels.
Text messaging for business, for instance, is proven to have a higher open and response rate when compared to email. An effective text message software package can also supply juicy analytics, while they can also be integrated seamlessly with other channels like email and social media.
3. Get personal
A personal experience is something that customers appreciate. When they feel like they’re being treated like a real person rather than a nondescript number on a line, they’re more likely to stick around and support your business.
Friendly communication is a must, and something as simple as including their first name in an email or text – rather than a generic ‘dear customer’ – can be effective. To go to the next level, utilize analytics to customize offers and communication based on their specific customer behaviors.
4. Human interaction
Automating communication is a massive advantage for a business to have. Yet beyond the automated text messages, emails, and live chat, you must have a real person ready to chat with customers when the time calls for it. In addition, a well-informed employee should possess the knowledge required to solve a complex problem a customer may have, and the latter will appreciate the effort a business has gone to in helping.
5. Take responsibility
No business is perfect. If a problem does arise that affects customers in some way, don’t run away and hide. Own up to the mistake. You might feel this will damage your reputation, but an honest approach shows authenticity. Plus, it demonstrates to customers that you’re willing to take responsibility and fix defective processes.
