It costs 5 times more to win a new customer than to keep an existing one. If that doesn’t light a fire for retention marketing—read that number again.
Whether you’ve been in business for decades or are just starting, winning back existing customers starts before they leave. It’s a mindset, a skill set, and a toolset for success.
With that 5-time number looming like a giant billboard in the sky, let’s look at how to keep the customers you have, build trust, boost loyalty, and keep them smiling.
At Local View, we care about our customers. We do our best to make them happy with the work we do, how we communicate, and how we support their success.
What is Retention Marketing?
Retention marketing means your customers choose you, your brand, and your business. It means that your customers feel a connection, trust the relationship, make repeat purchases, and share their brand loyalty.
According to Neil Patel, retention marketing helps you discover why people are staying — and why people are leaving. When you know what’s working and what isn’t, you can get to work building a system that inspires customer loyalty.
The Mindset of Winning Your Customers Back
Explore the issues of customer retention by understanding why people are leaving.
Find Out Why They Leave
If customers make a purchase and then leave…find out what made them make that decision. This may seem like a silly or small thing to do – until you remember that 5 x number.
You may want to ask this in an email with open-ended questions. If you have the stomach for it, call people and ask. This isn’t for the faint at heart. You may hear some negative feedback or be on the receiving end of a vitriolic exchange.
This isn’t easy to listen to intense critiques or negative rants. Practice patience. This is your chance to be a diplomatic investigator.
Investigate With a Survey
If you want a broader view that doesn’t require personal interaction, consider a survey. Some companies ask canceling customers to fill out a survey to gather candid, honest feedback. You may not get an answer from everyone — but you will get accurate answers from those who are leaving.
A survey shows customers that you care about their experience and are seeking to improve performance.
Improve Customer Experience
According to Neil Patel, treating customers poorly is the fastest way to lose them. 68% of customers leavebecause of treatment received.
Since your goal is to keep customers (not lose them) it helps to look at customer service and effective communication with current customers.
The Skillset of Retention Marketing
In retention marketing, explore how to keep existing customers happy, buy more, and be brand loyalists.
The skills for retention marketing apply across your entire company — from customer service to website development to loyalty programs.
Let’s look at a few of the skills you’ll want to nail down right away.
Exceptional Customer Service
Is your customer service exceptional and building loyalty from the get-go?
If there’s a bit of room for improvement, consider these smart moves.
- Help Customers Find Information Easily
A series of short-form videos can help customers get their hands on information. Adapt this idea for your small business with how-to troubleshooting, frequently asked questions, and video tutorials.
- Boost 24/hour Communications
Just because you’re sleeping at night doesn’t mean your website should be. Get a chatbot going to answer questions the moment a customer contacts your business. Keep your business communications flowing ‘round the clock.
- Be Easy to Reach
While you may use email for everything, help customers reach you across different channels. Check your website to make sure you are available by chat, text, phone, and email.
If you have a brick-and-mortar location, post your hours and provide directions.
Outstanding Customer Loyalty
Do your customers know how much you care about their business? Customer loyalty programs not only help people know the truth about how much you value them, but they also provide valuable benefits that your customer wants.
To create epic-level loyalty, be sure to do the basics.
- Know What Your Customer Values
Some customers love coupons, discounts, and volume deals. Others love personalized concierge service, top-tier treatment, and first-to-know specials. Take the time to segment your customers so you can offer different segments what they value most.
- Be Hyper Personalized
From onboarding to repeat orders, build trust by communicating in a personal way to understand what each customer wants from the experience.
Set up a welcome email. Develop interactive content to engage with customers. If you’re great at business, not a writing pro, hire expert writers to create blog posts and effective email campaigns.
- Tailor Rewards To Preferences
Use your creativity to design special offers that match the preferences of different groups. What do you have for one-time buyers? What is in place for high spenders? What rewards are you offering to coupon lovers?
The Toolset for Retention Marketing Success
Retention marketing tools depend on your specific business and e-commerce platform.
Customer retention tools help you track your customer’s experience. Top tools include HubSpot, Yotpo, SurveyMonkey, HotJar, Google Analytics, Optimizely, and CloudApp.
According to Neil Patel, BigCommerce has many customer retention features built in so you don’t have to start from scratch. You can get things like coupon codes, discount codes, and single-page checkouts to make the customer experience simple and easy.
In Conclusion
Retention marketing is all about keeping your customers smiling, happy, and coming back for more. Remember, it costs 5 times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.
At Local View, our passion is helping you attract, retain, and delight your customers. Let’s talk about how to make that happen.