Customer Retention Strategies

With company and brand reputations more transparent than ever, the importance of managing your company’s customer service has never been more crucial. Facing the dilemma of marketing and advertising costs at a premium, why not learn to leverage the “free and low cost marketing” that is grossly under-used: Customer Retention?

Here are some customer retention strategies you can use to develop and maintain relationships with your customers and keep them coming back for more:

1. Acknowledge customers by name

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has made it easy to profile and track everything about your customers, but don’t forget that one of the easiest ways to create a personal connection is to call a customer by name. Whether in person, on the phone, or in an email, acknowledging a customer by name is an easy way to personalize the experience.

2. Reducing Attrition

The easiest way to grow your business is not to lose your customers. Virtually every business loses some customers, but few ever measure or recognize how many of their customers become inactive. Most businesses, ironically, invest an enormous amount of time, effort and expense building that initial customer relationship. Then they let that relationship go unattended. In some cases they lose interest as soon as the sale has been made, or even worse, they abandon the customer when an easily resolvable problem occurs, only to have to spend another small fortune to replace that customer. Once you stop the leakage, it’s often possible to double or triple your growth rate because you’re no longer forced to make up lost ground just to stand still.

3. Keep it simple

As technical as the business world has become, simplicity is still king. Some companies encourage staff to send handwritten letters thanking customers for their business. Remember that creating a positive experience when you’re face to face with a customer is key to increasing customer retention; it’s as easy as looking the customer in the eye and telling them how much you appreciate their business.

4. Extraordinary Customer Service

The never-ending pursuit of excellence is to keep customers so satisfied that they tell others how well they were treated when doing business with you. Moving the product or service you deliver into the monarchy of the extraordinary by delivering higher than expected levels of service to each and every customer. Key facets include: dedication to customer satisfaction by every employee; providing immediate response; going above and beyond the call of duty; consistent on-time delivery; delivering what you promise before AND after the sale. Extraordinary service builds fortunes in repeat customers, whereas poor service will drive your customers to your competitors.

5. Stay connected after the sale

Make email marketing efforts and social media tools a part of your customer retention strategy, so you can stay connected with customers long after they've left your store or office. Keep in touch with customers to gauge their experience with a product, or use an email newsletter to provide relevant content that they can share with their network. In addition, connecting with customers through social media sites allows you to resolve any issues and answer their questions directly.

Other customer retention strategies include:

• Welcome Book

• CRM Systems

• Loyalty Programs

• Magic Moments

• Overcome Buyer’s Regret

• Personal Touches

• Premiums and Gifts

• Questionnaires and Surveys

• Blogs

• Social Media

Do You Need CRM?

Small business has always been about customer relationships — about knowing names, knowing preferences and offering the kind of friendly service that keeps customers coming back. But as a business grows, that ability to relate on a personal level to each and every customer becomes more of a struggle. The owner may be more involved in operations, less involved with customers. Managers may spend more time handling employee issues and less time interacting with customers. Yet effectively managing those customer relationships is a key to profitability. So the question becomes: How does a small business know when it's time for a more sophisticated method of managing customer relationships? That is why there is a higher demand is being placed on the need for CRM software that will do it all.

First, let’s define what a CRM is: The term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a system that connects different parts of a company through the thread of customer relationships. Sales, Marketing, Accounting and Customer Service can all be tied together with powerful, centralized CRM software made to retain customer loyalty, increase revenue, deliver consistent and efficient customer service, and finally, evaluate which customers to focus on.

CRM is a phrase that describes how your business interacts with your customers. Most people think of CRM as a system to capture information about your customers. However, that is only part of the picture. CRM is also about what you do with that information to better meet the needs of your existing customers and identify new customers, resulting in higher profits for you. Customer Relationship Management systems help business owners organize information to maximize new leads, repeat sales, improve customer service, cut costs and integrate information from operations processes.

Most of the companies lose in the selling process, if that wasn't the case, selling would be easy. But when you never get into the sale because lead information is misplaced, or when you fail to follow up because of disorganization, or when your sales people are spending more time updating and managing Excel spreadsheets than they are selling, then it's time to move toward CRM. This type of software assists you to keep your current customers and building new relationships with a variety of sales and marketing tools. 

CRM is useful in gaining new customers, but it's even more valuable when it comes to keeping existing customers. If you start losing them because of failures to follow up -- especially with customers who order on a regular basis -- it's time to introduce some automation into your sales operations. If you forget important details of your relationship with a customer, why should that customer believe that you're any different from any of your competitors? Successful CRM is founded on excelling in two areas – understanding your customers and focusing your operations to serve them through all points of contact

Perhaps the most critical issue that points to a need for a CRM solution goes back to the beginning: Small business has always been about customer relationships — knowing who your customers are, what their preferences are and how you can keep them coming back. With CRM, you can maintain that small business advantage while you take your business to the next level.

Benefits of Good Customer Service

In this ONLINE world where competition is at its peak, good customer service can help the merchant to lead the market. Customer service is important to the merchant because it is often the only contact a customer has with the company. Some customers spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars per year with a merchant. Consequently, when they have a question or product issue, they expect a company's customer service department to resolve their issues. Customer service is the overall activity of identifying and satisfying customer needs. It differentiates a company from its competitors.

A company with excellent customer service is more likely to get repeat business from customers. Consequently, the company will benefit with greater sales and profits. Contrarily, companies with poor customer service may lose customers, which will have a negative impact on business. It costs a lot more money for a company to acquire a customer than to retain them, due to advertising costs and the expense of sales calls. Therefore, the efforts that go into maintaining quality customer service can really pay dividends over time. Understanding the importance of good customer service is essential for a healthy business in creating new customers, keeping loyal customers, and developing referrals for future customers.

In a recent study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), small enterprises, which heavily emphasize their customer service support, were more likely to endure and succeed when compared to their leading competitors who only focused on offering lower prices for their products and services. Customers will simply pay more money and take their business elsewhere if they are not completely satisfied with the way a company treats them. Businesses, on the other hand, cannot afford to lose customers since their credibility and reputation is highly dependent upon a customer’s experience and feedback.

Good customer service leads to many benefits. Not only will you gain trust with your current clients, they'll also become a wonderful referral system as they spread the word about your business to other prospects. Especially with any internet business transactions, product reviews are quite common. Whether it's positive or negative feedback about a product or service, people are writing freely about their shopping experiences. In the long run, treating people fairly and with respect will bring business to your company today and in the future. Customer service also helps merchant to improve their products. If a merchant gets repetitive complaints from customers on a particular product, he may proactively fix the problem. If the quality of your product is good then you do not have to worry about sales.

Overall, a good Customer service support is extremely important for any new business. Always keep in mind that your business will be successful only if you have satisfied customers.