By Lauren Fenthum
Growing a business requires both new and old customers. However if business owners were to chose between one or the other, chances are they would rather sell to an existing customer as it is 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one. Companies are now starting to invest in customer retention programs to motivate their customers to return for additional purchases. These services, not only encourage customer return but also help improve the customer experience. These programs allow you to create long term value for the customer and will thus create a relationship between the company and consumer.
Onboarding - This teaches your customers how to use your product. Customers are more likely to abandon your product within the first week of using it. Customers who don't understand how your product works will leave your brand because they are not sure how it is supposed to fill their needs. Onboarding is a simple and self-serving way to get a product walkthrough. This can be done through an instruction manual.
Proactive Customer Care - This is when your company initiates a service interaction with a customer. This aims to add more value to the customer's experience and demonstrate a commitment to customer success. Your company could implement a knowledge base which would provide consumers with the resources to solve their own service questions, which will lessen calls to support teams.
Customer Success - This is more personalised and specific to each individual. This looks at what your business can do to help your customers succeed, meaning that customers would be able to see value in your business and will be more likely to return. Assign a customer success rep to an unhappy customer, for personalised, hands-on help. This also allows your company to be able to up-sell and cross-sell.
Customer Loyalty - Your top 1% of loyal customers spend five times more per visit than other customers. Loyalty programs help your business retain loyal customers whilst providing them with special offers and benefits over time.
Customer Feedback - It's hard to retain customers if you don't know which ones are happy. Customer feedback tools are available to collect reviews and predict trends in customer behaviour. Collecting customer feedback gives your company insight into individual customer problems. This allows you to reach out to consumers and see if there is anything that needs to be changed, added or done better. This helps improve customer retention because customers will appreciate your follow-up to their complaint.
