Many businesses focus the majority of their efforts on securing new customers and clients. However, it’s important not to forget about your existing customer base.
Retaining customers is equally as important as gaining new ones in business. The trouble is that it isn’t always easy to retain them. Below, we’ll look at the art of customer retention and the best ways to keep them coming back for more.
Why is customer retention important?
Keeping hold of existing customers is important for a number of reasons. For example, did you know that you could increase your profits by 25% to 29% through increasing retention by just 5%?
Providing great customer service is what helps to retain customers. A huge 9 out of 10 customers will spend more with a business if they offer great customer service. Furthermore, 78% would tell their friends and family about the business if they experienced good customer service.
When you retain customers, they spend more, and you’ll spend less time having to acquire new ones. So, how can you retain them?
Utilising loyalty schemes
Nothing annoys existing customers more than promotions and deals focused solely on new customers. Therefore, you’re going to want to put together offers aimed exclusively at your existing customers too if you want to keep them happy. A great way to retain customers is to offer loyalty schemes.
A loyalty scheme keeps on rewarding customers the more they spend with you. They are a popular and effective way to retain customers and are easier than you might think to implement. So, if you don’t currently have one, now is the time to look into offering a loyalty scheme to your customers.
Ask for customer feedback
If you really want to know how to keep your customers, it’s better to ask them. Getting customer feedback will help you to see which areas of the business could use a little improvement.
Ask them to suggest things they feel would enhance their shopping experience. Also, see what you’re doing well at too. If you ask for regular feedback, you’ll be able to implement changes quickly where needed. Your customers will also appreciate being asked for their feedback, provided you respond to it.
Don’t forget personalisation
One thing customer’s look for these days is personalisation. They don’t want to be just another number to a business. Instead, they expect to be personally marketed to.
Personalisation should be included in your business. At the very least, you should address the customer by their name. However, you should also look into personalised marketing and experiences too.
As you can see, customer retention is extremely important for businesses today. The above are just some of the ways you can focus on retaining your customers.
