As well as gaining new customers, it is also important that businesses focus on retaining their existing ones too. Although it can feel exciting to entice new customers into buying your products/services, it’s the existing customers that will result in greater ROI.
Today, we will be discussing how you can improve customer retention to keep those all-important sales rolling in.
Build Trust
Just because a customer has made a purchase with you in the past does not necessarily mean that they have full trust in your business. Instead, it is important to understand that trust takes time to build. Reliability is a key factor in this and to achieve it, your company should be consistent in delivering its value to customers. You should have awareness of your brand promise and you should be doing everything you can to deliver it and build that trust.
You can learn more about building trust with your customers through some online research. Luckily, there are plenty of helpful blogs and articles out there which can give you some well-needed inspiration.
Request Feedback
There will always be areas where your business needs to improve. However, it can be difficult to know how to improve it if you don’t know how your customers feel about your products/services in the first place. So, it is important that you encourage feedback. As well as helping your customers feel valued, it can also help you improve your operations so you can provide a better service.
One of the most popular ways to acquire feedback is with surveys. You can easily create surveys online and you can often find a service that is free to use. Whenever your customers make a purchase, or they submit a query, you can reply asking your customers to leave feedback. It helps to give them a voice and consolidate brand loyalty.
Send Direct Mail
What greater way to keep yourself at the forefront of customers minds than sending them direct mail? As well as gaining the ability to make your message personal, it is also a great way for you to reach out and send promotional vouchers and content which acts as a friendly reminder that you still exist. It is important to note that there is an art to direct mail and your customers don’t want their mailbox to get cluttered with information that they will disregard. This article from Lob gives you some helpful tips on how to use direct mail for customer retention which you may find useful.
From updates to birthday discounts, there are plenty of ways that you can get creative with your direct mail to help it grab the attention of your existing customers.
Offer Something Unique
You should always be looking at what your competitors are doing. If you can offer a service that is superior to them then you are onto a winner. It gives your customers a reason to shop with your company instead of others. However, standing out amongst your competitors is not always easy and it requires a lot of research to get it right.
It can help to find your niche. Research critical customer pain points that your business can help solve. If you are unfamiliar with what customer pain points are then it is advised that you do your research. It is vital that your business can offer solutions to your customers problems. It helps you give them a reason why they should purchase products/services from you.
Inspire Your Customers
Inspiring your customers is a fantastic way to improve retention. It is a technique that a lot of businesses have used over the years and with its high success rate it is clear to see why. There are many ways that you can inspire your customers and one of the most popular ways to achieve this is through your mission. Does your business have a mission to donate a portion of their sales to charity? Or maybe you aim to go green by 2022? Whatever you choose to do, inspiring your customers is a sure-fire way to improve retention and encourage them to support your business in the future.
Handle Mistakes in The Correct Manner
In business, mistakes can happen. Although they can be difficult to avoid, it is how you handle them that matters the most. For example, if a customer has had a bad experience when purchasing a product/service from you there is still time to resolve it and find a solution. If handled correctly, you can win back a customer’s loyalty in an instant.
It is recommended that you look into ways that leaders can fix mistakes. It can help you to prepare for them in the future, helping you tackle them in the correct manner. Putting in the research could help you retain those existing customers so you can enjoy an increased ROI in the future.
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