Magazine : 
Customer retention strategies
When starting a business, the main focus will be on acquiring new customers. However, as the brand grows, the focus may start drifting more towards customer retention. While you will still be looking to acquire new customers, retaining the existing ones will ensure you maximize revenues and keep your business afloat.
Why you should concentrate more on customer retention
It is estimated that the odds of selling to an existing customer lie between 60-70%, with the odds of selling to a new customer been 5-20%. This shows that by concentrating on existing customers, you can extract more Customer Life Value (CLV). According to this Business Encyclopedia Shopify, CLV is the amount of money a customer is expected to spend in your business during their lifetime. This is why it is important to prioritise more of your resources on keeping your existing customers happy, so they can return again and make a purchase. Here are some strategies you can adapt.
a) Offer Loyalty and Rewards Programs
One way to encourage customers to return and purchase again is by offering loyalty and rewards programs. For example, you may implement a point reward system where customers can redeem them. It is important for the process to be free, fun, simple, and easy, so as to make it worthwhile for customers to sign up.
b) Offer exceptional customer services
Customers will feel appreciated when you offer effective communication and support systems. It is also important to offer various options such as email, telephone, social media, or Live Chat among others. This is to give customers the flexibility to communicate on any option to have their complaints dealt with. It is also important to ask your customers to leave feedback. This can help a lot in establishing areas where you can improve on to add value to your brand.
c) Personalize your interaction
By knowing a lot about a customer, you can be able to offer tailor-made solutions to add value to their lives. For example, if you use email marketing strategies, you can contact the customer personally and get to know how you can improve value to their lives with your brand. This will make the customer feel part of the partnership, and thus build brand loyalty.
d) Keep your customers updated
Even if a customer has not bought anything for a long time, it is important to send them updates on new developments. This will make them feel like part of the team and not forgotten. When updating them using newsletter, you may also want to leave room for feedback so they can have their input on new developments. By including your customers and keeping them on the loop, they will likely stick around longer, or even reignite their interest if they had forgotten about your brand.
e) Educate your customers
To enhance the chances of customers buying your brand, you can educate them on how to use it. You can send them instructions or even offer video lessons. It is also important to update educational materials if the products are updated.
.jpg "Unlocking Potential Redefining Potential & Redefining Excellence")
