Developing A Customer Retention Plan – 8 Ideas To Get You Started

In short, developing a customer retention strategy is achievable, measurable and simple. You don’t even need to hire a digital agency to get started. Processes like email marketing campaigns are quick, easy and extremely cheap!

The importance of customer retention is overlooked by many. For many businesses, the focus is on acquiring and not retaining, regardless of their business idea.

Building relationships is the key to success, regardless of the niche that your business operates in.

Why does your business need a customer retention plan?

• Reduce overheads – less resources are needed to service a client due to their awareness of the sales process
• Build brand awareness – consistent sales means consistent exposure and therefore, increased brand awareness
• Receive referrals – customer loyalty brings customer referrals; free business leads
• Increase revenue – loyal customers produce a higher revenue than new customers
• Increase profit – an increase in revenue and a reduction in overheads, means an increase in profit
• Stabilised income – loyal customers can be monitored easily, making financial projections much more accurate
• Diversify marketing – you might think you have tried every marketing tactic possible. Well, here is something new to try!

The facts and the figures

“The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%” – Marketing Metrics

“It costs 6 – 7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one” – Bain & Company

There are 100s of similar facts and figures showing that customer relationship marketing is something that produces an extremely high ROI. Obviously, the facts and figures vary depending on the industry, the size of a company and how well they execute their retention strategy. The facts have always been there, it is time to take advantage of them.

What you need to know

The simplest of actions make the biggest difference. Customer service, consistent contact, honesty and fulfilling expectations are some of the simplest things a business can do and they all work in unity to create your customer retention plan.

Techniques that work…

Email marketing

Every business should have an email marketing campaign. They are easy to manage using platforms such as MailChimp. Give consumers the chance to opt-out at the checkout when they purchase goods or services.

An email marketing campaign needs to be consistent; content writing tone and schedule. Some companies aim to produce one email per week, whereas others aim for one per month. This could be interesting industry news, links to a valuable blog post on your company blog, or special offers.

Order tracking alerts

Order tracking alerts might not seem important, but they are. Why? They combine consistent contact and customer service. If you can create an alert when goods are packed and shipped, then you have made contact with the customer, but offered them that little bit extra. It will also save your company time, as you won’t have to answer emails and telephone calls from customers asking where items are.

Regular discounts

Whether you are a retailer or service provider, offering discounts on goods or services that are valuable will help. Sure, it might seem odd to discount best sellers, but remember that customer retention is not costing you as much as customer acquisition.

Competitions

Competitions are a cheap way of getting 100s of customers interactively involved in your business. Do you run an extreme sports business? Post a competition for £500 of merchandise for the best photo. Not only will the majority of your customers enter, but it will get them thinking about your brand again. You’ll find that you get unexpected benefits too, such as back links which will help with your website SEO.

Rewarding complaints

The frustrating thing about losing customers is that most businesses don’t know why they lost them in the first place. Complaints provide your company with valuable information that can make your overall package seem much more attractive. If someone complains, don’t make excuses, make them an offer, give them a reward and thank them for their time.

Loyalty program

Loyalty programs come in all shapes and forms. You could offer:

• Instant cash for referrals
• A points system, where buyers can earn and spend points
• A cash back system
• A tiered system based on total cash spent, linked to discounts
• Discount clubs (usually charged by the vendor) offering exclusive discounts
• Price match guarantees

Gathering facts

Think like an engineer; with facts. If you have facts, then you can create a customer relationship strategy that is going to work. Ask questions and act based on the answers that you receive. To make a survey seem more appealing, you could tie it in with an email marketing campaign offer. Ask the customer to fill out the survey, in exchange for the exclusive discount that is being offered.

Gifts

Gifts might seem like an unnecessary cost, but think before you discard this as a viable tactic to use. Ideally, you can give all customers a gift for their birthday. If your business is linked to their hobby and interest, this is going to not just re-instate contact, but give them an idea of where they would like to spend their cash!

This is not just a free gift, it is a gesture. You never know your gift might be a topic of conversation and lead to a referral!