4 Steps to Improving Customer Retention
When your business is just starting out, acquiring new customers has to be your primary concern. But once you get beyond the initial stages, the key to real growth is not so much getting new customers, but customer retention. Without a well-thought-out plan to increase customer loyalty, your business could be leaving money on the table. What's worse, because it costs more to acquire a new customer than to upsell an existing customer, you're spending more time, effort and money than you need to for the same results. How can you maximize profits from existing customers?
1. Reach out with email. Encourage customers to sign up to receive marketing emails from your business by emphasizing the benefits they'll receive. For example, if you own a retail store or restaurant, promote your email newsletter as a way to get informed of new products, special events or upcoming promotions. Design mobile-optimized emails. Most people now check their emails on smartphones first, so if they can't easily view your message, they're likely to delete it. Are people opening your emails, but not clicking on them? That could be a sign that your emails aren't displaying properly on mobile devices.
2. Stay in touch on social media. Connect with your existing customers on the social media channels they prefer. For instance, if you own a B2B business, you and your salespeople should connect with customers on LinkedIn, responding to their posts and sharing relevant information. For a B2C business, get customers to follow you on social media by focusing on the benefits they'll receive-special offers, alerts on new products or services and invitations to events. Place social media icons prominently on your website and marketing emails so people can just click to follow you.
3. Focus on customer service. Outstanding service is essential to building loyalty. Regularly review your customer service processes and measure customer satisfaction using surveys and customer feedback. Provide ongoing training to your customer service team based on what you learn so that they're continually improving.
4. Create a retention-oriented sales team. Make sure your salespeople know how important customer loyalty is to your business's ongoing success. Train them to gently upsell products and services to existing customers without being pushy. Keep a customer-focused attitude: Make sure your salespeople are truly listening to what the customer needs and finding tailored solutions, rather than just pushing for the sale.
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