It is critical for a business to draw in customers, but the ultimate goal is to get those customers to return and become regular buyers. Through effective marketing and other actions, you can turn a first-time buyer into a loyal fan of your brand.
While ensuring repeat business from customers can be a challenge, there are some unique methods that can be used to retain customers more effectively. Here are some of the best ways to boost customer retention rates for your business:
1. Show Transparency In Communications
Transparency in communications is key. Clients want honesty, openness and vulnerability. They want to work with a human who sets realistic expectations and exceeds them almost every timeโand who owns it when they donโt and will take steps to make it better when that happens. Clients truly want to deal with humans who are transparent about their โhumanness.โ –ย Lisa Rangel,ย Chameleon Resumes LLC
2. Tighten Your Focus On Relationships
Relationship quality is the bedrock of customer retention. Getting closer to clients means investing time in understanding their concerns, their experience and the context surrounding their use of your product or service. The integrity of your follow-up demonstrates who you are. Tighten your focus on relationships. Send ideas, gifts and networking contacts directly related to their concerns or context. –ย Jessica Hartung,ย Treelight Leadership
3. Focus On Quality Customer Experience
Companies can boost retention by continuously focusing on providing a high-quality customer experience, which translates to providing a service that far exceeds their expectations. Do this by giving them quality service or products that are even better than what they want or need. This requires the organization to be truly empathetic to customer needs and to give customers what they did not even realize they required or needed. –ย Rittu Sinha,ย The Balanced Bandwagon
4. Engage With Customers Via Social Media
Social media engagement is critical. Engaging with customers online via social media is a great way to keep them engaged with your brand as well as remind them that youโre โthereโ to be of service. –ย Julie Fisher,ย Your Digital Guardian
5. Create Systems To Measure Customer Value
Successful companies create systems for measuring customer value and invest in enabling technology. Leverage design thinking to build customer loyalty and organize your business around customer needs. Engage the entire organization and stakeholdersโemployees, board members and investorsโin continuous fine-tuning of processes to improve customersโ lives. –ย Lital Marom,ย UNFOLD Media Group
6. Mail Handwritten Thank-You Notes
A simple, inexpensive and quick way to let customers know you care is to write them a thank-you note after meeting with them. Buy some simple thank-you cards that are blank inside and, immediately after a meeting, write a handwritten thank-you message. Hand-address the envelope and place a stamp on itโdonโt run it through a postage meter. People remember this because nobody does it anymore. –ย John Lowe,ย Ty Boyd, Inc.
7. Make Each Customer Feel Important
People remember how you make them feel. Make your customers feel valued, appreciated and important. Tap into the good feeling that your product or service creates for customers. People crave connection, so create a customer environment that allows them to have a sense of belonging. Invest the time to make it personal. Get rid of anything that detracts from a positive experience. –ย Kimberly Roush,ย All-Star Executive Coaching
8. Work Together On A Common Cause
If you want to boost customer retention, share a common cause. Work together to give back to the community in some way. Find out what matters to them and participate with them in a way that aligns with your day-to-day interactions. Doing good is always good for business because of its impact on our relationships. –ย Kathi Laughman,ย The Mackenzie Circle LLC
9. Follow Up With Your Existing Customersย
High-touch is the key to customer retention. The only thing unusual about personalized follow-up is how few companies do it. Itโs easier to get referrals from happy customers than it is to find and convert new business. So, make your existing customers a focus: Send a personalized thank-you card in the mail with your business card, connect on LinkedIn, and ask to put them on your email list. –ย Laura DeCarlo,ย Career Directors International
10. Deliver Even More Value Than Promised
Deliver more value than promised while not letting them get used to it. Otherwise, it turns into an expectation that can backfire. โMoreโ might mean doing something extra personal, quicker or better. โValueโ is subjective; it goes way beyond price. It is about making your clients feel more valued and understood than the competition does. It takes effort to get to know them, hence their appreciation for those actions. –ย Csaba Toth,ย ICQ Global
11. Showcase Your Clients On Social Media
For B2B retention, it really helps to showcase your clients on social media by linking back to them and building their brand awareness on your channels. In fact, the boost for them likely will result in a boost for you. A rising tide floats all ships. –ย Natasha Ganem,ย Lion Leadership
12. Develop Strong Talent Management Strategies
Work to develop strong talent management strategies that maximize leadership excellence, optimize talent and align strategy to the organizationโs philosophy and goals. Focusing on people internally and developing their competencies and skills to focus and develop relationships with the customer are the keys to becoming a customer-centric organization that is able to boost customer retention. –ย Lori Harris,ย Harris Whitesell Consulting
13. Ask Customers For Feedback On Your Service
Ask customers specifically โhowโ you delivered your product or service and if they have any insight they could offer into how you could improve your service in the future. This level of humility shows clients that you care about personal growth and are committed to self-awareness. Retention is almost 100% based on how your actions have impacted the relationship youโve developed with them. –ย Reena Khullar Sharma,ย Agilis Executive Consulting
14. Call 25 To 50 Customers Every Month
Boosting customer relations isnโt as hard as youโd think. It can be as simple as calling 25 to 50 customers every month. It truly is a โhidden in plain sightโ type of marketing that you can use to get into the mind of your customers and find out what they need or wantโand what theyโre willing to pay for it. You can then evolve your company based on this nuanced information. –ย Jon Dwoskin,ย The Jon Dwoskin Experience
15. Invest In Your People So That They Will Invest In Your Customers
Increasing customer retention starts with creating a compelling and positive customer experience. Remember how expensive it is to get one new customer, and invest in customer experience accordingly. Additionally, invest in your people so that they will invest in your customers, and brand loyalty and customer commitment and retention will increase. –ย Jonathan H. Westover,ย Utah Valley University & Human Capital Innovations, LLC
[See article on Forbes here]
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