Customers are the most significant assets of a business. If you want to thrive in the long run, you will have to take care of them. Your business will go downhill if you put your back into finding new clients while losing the existing one because it may cost five times more to acquire new customers.
Though you need to make efforts to attract new customers, the primary focus should be on retaining. Generating leads while shattering your customer base is simply a simpleton approach.
There are chances that new customers place an order without a thought of coming back, so never underestimate the power of loyal customers.
A key to business growth is customer retention. Converting prospects to sales can be harder. Therefore, you should focus on retention. Here is how you can do it.
Find out why your customers are leaving you
Before you can take steps to improve your customer base, you need to know the reason why your customers are leaving you in the first place. If you understand why customers are not happy to buy your product or service the second time, you will improve in those areas.
The best way to identify the reason is customer feedback. As soon as a customer terminates your account, you should send in a feedback form to know the intention to do so. However, not everyone will reply to your email.
Whosoever gives you feedback will provide you with valuable insight into what you need to enhance to improve the retention.
Make them feel special
You should be thankful to those customers who have patronised your services. You will have to treat them special if you want them to come back again. Customers love surprises, especially those that do not cost them an arm and a leg. It shows them how you value them.
For instance, if you have an online store and you are offering a 10% discount on the purchase of a product X, you can provide an additional discount of 10% to existing customers. If your customers get to know that you are offering them a 20% discount in total, you will earn respect.
Further, you can extend the sale period for your existing customers. For instance, you intend to offer a weekend sale. Put a clause: “Sale period will open for existing customers before 12 hours”.
Meet customers’ expectations
From inquiries to shipping, customers want everything smooth and faster. Try to meet at the expectations of your customers.
- They can come up with doubt any time. Make sure that you render round-the-clock services.
- The purchasing process should be simple. Send in details to track orders as immediately as they plan an order.
- The delivery time should be short.
- Set sensible pricing.
Decently handle disappointed customers. They will go ballistic if they do not get what they expected of you. You do not need to be indecorous to them. Try to understand their grievances and solve them. Apologetic behaviour and sincerity to make it up to them can help you regain trust.
Maintain transparency
If your customers feel that they cannot trust you, they will not patronise your business again. If you do not want to lose them to your competitors, you should build trust, and this is possible if you maintain transparency. Give your customers complete information about your products and services.
Entrepreneurs who do exactly what it says on the tin are likely to have a higher retention rate than those who do not do as they promise. Be in touch with your customers and follow a proactive approach.
Show value
Your competitors will be dealing in more or less the same product or service. It would help if you evaluated how you add value to it. How your products and services are different from the others? If you are adding more value to your customers, there is no logical reason to leave you and switch to your competitors.
Do not forget to be loyal to your customers after a purchase. Once a customer has purchased your product, the ball is in your court. You should ask them if they are happy with it. If they are facing any problems, try to resolve the issue. With after-sale services, you can prove to your customers that you are loyal to them and do not want to lose them at any cost.
Retaining your customers is a tough job. Before you take the plunge, you need to analyse the current rate. Use GOOGLE ANALYTICS to track your retention. Compare past sales information to see who have made repeated sales. Analyse your findings drawn from the available data and then implement a strategy to improve customer retention rate. Steps, as mentioned above, can help you do so. If your customers are loyal to you, your sales graph will go up, and you will not need to take out CCJ loans with no guarantor for regular business expenses.
