Is customer retention something your boss is always bugging you about? Are you having problems retaining customers? Are you trying to expand your current loyal customer base?
Harvard Business School studies have shown that ‘increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.’ Now that’s something to get excited about! Assuming that you already have a pretty slick product or service, here are 6 areas you should focus on to increase customer retention rates.
1. Have presence both online and offline
We exist in a world of total connectivity. Consumers are regularly drifting between the online and offline worlds, even if they are not aware of it. For businesses this means that you need to have a presence in both of these worlds. This doesn’t mean that you should just have any old website. Utilize all the free online tools like social media, blogs, forums – anything that will allow you to connect and interact with your repeat and future customers!
FACT: A study showed that 58% of Americans perform online research about the products and service that they are considering purchasing.
2. Frequent personalized communication
Use as many relevant communication channels as you can, without spamming your customers of course. Use their name, ask them to share their shopping experiences with you, start building rapport. You want your customers to feel loved and cared about.
FACT: A research study found that employees only ask for the customer’s name 21% of the time. Hint: The person has a name 100% of the time, and they like to hear it!
3. Reward, reward, and reward some more
Have you ever met someone who doesn’t like a gift, reward, or discount? This doesn’t mean you have to give your customers something for free. There are many ways you can reward your customers. Give a discount, give them special status (i.e. tiered membership), exclusive sales, and the list goes on! With tools like Loopy Loyalty you can easily create digital loyalty cards and keep track of your loyal customers, rewarding them after a specified number of purchases!
FACT: It’s 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one.
4. Be proactive, get feedback
Now that you have your customers hooked on your exceptional customer service, how do you measure success? Don’t be afraid to ask your customer to complete surveys for feedback. This is a great way to get both quantitative and qualitative data on how your customers rate your service. You should also embrace the opportunity that customer complaints present. Once you have resolved the complaint, determine what the root cause of the complaint was, and put a measure in place to make sure the same negative experience doesn’t happen again!
FACT: A typical business hears from 4% of its dissatisfied customers.
5. Rank your feedback against your analytics
Identify what metrics are key to measuring customer satisfaction. By being able to collect quantifiable data on customer satisfaction it will make it easier to prove that you ARE providing exceptional customer service. On the other hand, it also makes it easy to see what areas you are lacking in. This is okay too. If something isn’t working, learn, adapt, and take a new approach. Customers show thanks for great customer service with their wallets, always work towards delivering consistent and outstanding service.
FACT: 80% of companies say they deliver ‘superior’ customer service. But only 8% of people think these same companies deliver ‘superior’ customer service.
6. Enjoy the good vibes
Remember that exceptional customer service will lead to customer loyalty that will drive referrals, revenue, and most importantly make everyone in your company happy! Enjoy the fact that you have close relationships with your customers. In today’s market place, that is lacking emphasis on customer service, delivering great customer experiences will differentiate you from your competitors. Remember that your customers won’t like that you’re delivering poor customer service, but your competitors will!
FACT: There is a 5-20% probability of selling to a new prospect and 60-70% probability of selling to an existing customer.
Have you had any experiences with trying to increase customer loyalty? What has worked and what hasn’t worked? We’d love to hear more about it. Leave your comments below and share it with us!
