Customers who are loyal to you don’t buy just one product or use your services once. Customers return to you for more. Customer retention increases the lifetime value of your customers and improves your revenue.
It can also help you develop amazing relationships with customers. Your website is not just another store or website. Because you offer value in exchange, they trust you with their money.
What is customer retention? And how can you achieve customer retention through relationship-building strategies?
Let’s take a deeper look at these concepts and see if there are any examples you can use in your business.
What is customer retention?
Marketing defines customer retention as the act of enticing existing customers to buy products or marketing services in Miami from your company. This is different from customer acquisition and lead generation because the customer has been converted at least once.
You can build lasting relationships with customers who will be loyal to your brand by using the best customer retention strategies. They may even share the word with their networks of influence, which could make them brand ambassadors.
Let’s begin at the beginning. Now that you have sold a product/service to a customer, what’s the next step? This is when you create and implement customer retention strategies.
The importance of customer retention for an online business
You may have heard it said that it is easier and cheaper to retain customers than to buy them. According to the most recent statistics, it is true.
You’ll spend fivefold less on customer retention.
Your probability of selling to an existing client is at most 40% higher than conversions to someone who has not bought from you previously.
New leads also spend 31 percent more on existing customers, while loyal customers are 50 times more likely to try a new product.
These statistics should be enough to make you want to test and build a customer retention strategy.
How to calculate your customer retention rate
There are many ways companies can calculate customer retention rates. It all depends on the period you are looking at, but marketers often use too many variables.
Let’s suppose that you have 2,000 customers in two months. At the same time, 900 customers return to purchase from you. These are the numbers that you can use to calculate your customer retention rates.
You must discount any new customers that you acquire during these two months. They are not included in the equation. You should count only the customers who purchased something from you before the two-month date.
When calculating your customer retention rate between January 1 and February 28, take into account customers who purchased from you before January 1. A new customer who purchases from you after January 15 is not counted.
Customer retention formula
It’s not difficult to implement the customer retention strategy. However, it is powerful. This is a great example of how you build relationships with customers and draw them back for future purchases.
It will be necessary to do some math but it shouldn’t be difficult if you have a calculator.
Add the number of customers you have acquired to the calculation period. This is your total customer base at the end of the period. Divide this number by the total customers at the end of the period, and then divide it by 100.
Let’s take a look at a customer retention illustration.
At the beginning of the calculation period, you have 50,000 customers. You acquire 1,000 customers in the first two months and 40,000 at the end.
To get rid of customers who purchased during the testing period, we’ll subtract 1,000 from 50,000. We now have 49,000. To get.81, divide 40,000 by 49,000. We get an 81 percent customer retention rate if we multiply this number by 100.
These 13 strategies and techniques will increase customer retention
How can you get better customer retention rates now that you are aware of how important it is?
Here are some customer retention techniques and strategies that I have selected to help you win customers back and keep them coming back.
1. Set your sales goals
A goal is essential before you can tackle any marketing strategy. You won’t be able to know what your goal is if you don’t have one.
First, calculate your existing customer retention rate. It is necessary to start somewhere. It’s not realistic to set a goal of 50% if you are only retaining 10 percent of your customers. A goal that you can achieve is essential.
You should consider the size of your customer base and the product type you are selling. Certain products can be tailored to ensure customer retention. People will always need to replenish their household supplies like dish soap and toilet paper. In this case, you can set a higher goal.
You will need to be more conservative if your goal is to get customers to try new products, order the same products for gifts, or order more of the products they already own.
2. Cartography of the customer journey
It’s not always straightforward to go from prospect to customer. It’s more likely that it will take many unexpected curves. However, if you have data on how people interact with your site and business, you can predict their customer journey toward converting to purchase.
These are the questions to ask:
- How did they find out about your business?
- Are they able to track your articles through Google searches?
- Are they following your social media posts?
- Are you getting lots of referrals for your business?
Knowing this information will help you understand how they make decisions. So you can market more effectively and get contacts of prospects, focus on lead acquisition
Analyze what motivates customers to buy. You can optimize each stage of the customer journey and increase customer retention once you have a better understanding.
3. Get started on the right foot
It is said that first impressions are crucial. A customer who doesn’t enjoy their first purchase will likely not return for another.
It’s easy to greet your customers with warmth. It’s easy to make sure that the checkout and delivery processes are as seamless as possible. To express appreciation for the customer’s business, send a thank you email and direct them to any videos or guides.
4. Have a look at the value proposition
The perceived value is just as important as the actual value. Customers must see your business as the solution to their problems.
Many companies have made corporate responsibility a major focus. While they don’t add any value to the product or service, engaging in green practices and engaging in community activities does.
Your value proposition must communicate what you believe and why your business is successful.
5. Reducing friction
You may be surprised at how simple it is to purchase a product on Amazon. You can purchase a product from Amazon if you are an existing customer with a credit card and another payment method.
It is completely seamless.
Your customers will be more likely to purchase your products again and again if there are fewer obstacles. You can streamline the checkout process by adding links to related products to your product pages. Also, you can send regular emails about new and on-sale items.
6. Communicate well with customers and build relationships
The relationship will deteriorate if you stop communicating with your friend or loved one over a prolonged period. It is becoming easier to lose contact.
Customers are the same. They won’t be interested in reading your blogs or connecting with you on social media if you don’t communicate with them.
7. Offer great content to educate your customers
Many people purchase products and services from businesses that are open to learning. Your customers will return to you if you consistently share great content.
This phenomenon is partly due to the importance of staying top of mind. Your job is done if your business is the first thing people think of when you mention your niche in conversation.
8. Learn to understand your customers’ problems
You don’t need to know the problems your product solves, even if it’s the best product. You must also know the best consumers to benefit from your product.
What are your customers looking for? What is it that keeps your customers awake at night? Continue to address their pain points in your marketing campaigns, so customers know you care. They’ll be more inclined to buy from your company over time.
9. A loyalty program can make your customers return happy.
Although loyalty programs may seem straightforward, they can make a big difference in customer retention. Your customers will feel more inclined to return to your online store if they know that they will be rewarded.
It doesn’t take a complex or expensive reward system to be effective. You don’t even need costly rewards for those who “level up.”
10. Get feedback
Two distinct purposes are served by asking for feedback from customers:
- Because you value your customers’ opinions, it makes them feel good.
- This gives you an insight into the thoughts and feelings of your customers.
Boring surveys may not be the best way to go. Send an email asking your subscribers to respond with their thoughts. Encourage your subscribers to give detailed answers and not just rank them from 1-10.
11. Your customer retention team should be trained
Spend time training your customer retention team on the strategies I have described. If you rely on sales calls to qualify and convert leads, do dry runs with new members of your team using a script.
My team is what makes my business succeed. They can do the tasks that I am not proficient in or don’t have the time for. The most important leadership skill that you can acquire is delegation.
Training your employees well is key to ensuring customer retention. Introduce new strategies to your employees so that they can follow the instructions.
12. You can offer a valuable upsell
Cross-selling is a great way to get customers back to your business. Your ability to offer customers a better opportunity often determines customer retention.
Upselling is inviting customers to try a higher-priced product or service. Because they have been introduced to your company, they already know the value you offer.
Cross-selling is the act of inviting customers to buy related or complementary products to their existing ones. Cross-selling is similar to the sales associate at a clothing store who tells customers, “Oh, those pants would be a great choice.” They come with some comfy socks. Let me show you.
13. Are A/B tests possible?
Although it’s fine to make an assumption, I prefer calling it a hypothesis. But if you don’t test your assumption, how can you tell if you’re right?
It was quite a lot. Let’s take a look at it.
It is possible to hypothesize that emailing customers weekly with detailed content could increase customer retention. For this purpose, you create an email drip campaign and begin it.
Perhaps your customer retention rates are higher. They might not. What if they did?
You can challenge yourself by creating an email drip campaign that only half of your audience receives. These emails should be sent every two weeks, instead of every other week. Compare the results.
You can also perform A/B Testing on the site. You might use a plugin that suggests related products to help customers choose which items to purchase. To determine which layout converts better, you could A/B-test the widget’s placement.
Start AB testing with Kobe Digital Tools today
Kobe Digital lets you create five user behavior reports to show how visitors interact with your site. Understanding your audience is easy with Heatmaps and Scrollmaps as well as Confetti Reports (List Reports), Confetti Reports, List Reports, and Overlay Reports.
Start collecting data right away and launch new reports on user behavior. You can also refine your customer retention strategy by using A/B testing and recordings.
How do the best companies retain customers? Example of Customer Retention
The best customer retention strategies are simple but can increase profits by an amazing margin.
As I mentioned, a value proposition can make a huge impact on customer retention. This is especially true if it goes beyond the product or service. This is what TOMS, an apparel company, does beautifully. The company sells shoes to make a profit. However, for every pair of shoes a customer purchases, the company donates another pair to someone in need.
It’s called One for One and is a wonderful example of corporate social responsibility in the workplace.
Many partnerships can increase customer retention. Starwood is a hotel chain that partners with many companies so their customers can get rewards for future stays. You get more rewards if you rent a car at Hertz or join the Diners Club.
Another example is integrations. Integrations are another example. It is easier to use software programs that you already use. Kobe Digital supports integrations with 10 companies including Squarespace and Shopify. This makes it easier for customers to use our software.
Conclusion
Customer retention doesn’t improve overnight. You can still get your customers to return if you have some solid strategies.
Know your customers first. Identify their needs and what they are looking for.
Next, discover ways to delight, motivate, and surprise them. Get in touch. Get feedback and testimonials. Let them know how much you appreciate their patronage.
With tools such as Kobe Digital, you can quickly test any strategy and refine your approach. Your customer retention program will become stronger the more you test it.
