Finding customers and keeping them may be tough, but it shouldn’t feel like an impossible feat. If you take the time to ask for their help, listen to their feedback, and be willing to implement changes they suggest, succeeding in customer retention will be at least a little bit easier than you may think.
Here are four marketing strategies you can try to encourage customer retention.
Show that Feedback was Implemented
If customers provide your business with feedback – positive or negative – in the form of surveys, comments left on social profiles, or through email responses, it’s important to give them confirmation that they’ve been heard.
One simple solution to letting customers know they’ve been heard: an email. Make an announcement of a new initiative being implemented that came via customer feedback. This tells both the individual(s) that left the feedback that they’re voice was recognized and gives other customers the indication that if they ever offer an opinion, they too many see changes made.
Customer Rewards
It may not be perfect for every business, but offering some type of reward – discount, gift cards, tickets to games, etc. – can help to keep your customers both happy and engaged with you.
Set up an easy to understand system that makes it like a game for your customers to earn the rewards over time, such as through money saved, number of transactions made, or through completing online surveys. The more you can do to make the customer’s experience with your business more enjoyable, the more likely it is they will want to tell others about you.
Provide Customer with Clear Expectations
If your customers are unsure how exactly you will work with them, they may be unwilling to work with in the first place. That’s why it’s important to set expectations with your customers so that they know what they’re getting, what you will do for them, and how long it will take.
Remember that customers want to know that they’re being taken care of, so don’t be afraid to:
- Set clear deadlines for when you will get back to them
- Provide direction on how they can contact you
- Offer data on how quickly your response times have been
If you have to, live by the adage “under promise, but over deliver.” If you tell customers that you will be in contact with them as soon as possible after they make an inquiry online, many will take that to mean right away. Even though you’ve set a clear deadline, you’ve also set yourself up to fail because that timeframe may be difficult to adhere to if you are trying to interact with numerous customers at once.
Instead, let them know up front that someone on your team will get in contact within 5 – 10 minutes of sending a message. That way, your customers will be pleasantly surprised when they get a response in just a minute or two, thinking that it would’ve taken longer. The more you do this, the more they feel connected to your business and are willing to let others know about you.
Make Sending Feedback Simple
The last thing you want is for any customer, happy or disgruntled, to feel as though there is no easy solution to offering feedback. This goes for both online and in-person.
If you’re dealing mostly online, make contact forms easy to access or, at minimum, easy to find on your website without much effort. When someone knows that your business has made it easy for them to send you their complaint or praise, it can give them a sense of relief in knowing that they are wanting to be heard.
If you’re business does more face-to-face interactions, consider providing your customers with a survey postcard that is ready to be sent back, with postage. This makes it easier for your customers to simply fill out the postcard and send it back.
For businesses today, customer retention can be difficult due to the sheer amount of options available but finding and keeping customers is possible. Take the time to invest in your customers and take their input and use it to your advantage. The more that they feel as though they are a valuable part of your business, the more likely they will want to stay that way.
