Customer Retention

What is customer retention? Importance, techniques & definition: Customer retention costs companies less than customer acquisition. Here are a few ways to better retention strategies. Our goal shouldn’t be centered around the customer buying from us. Our goal should be about them getting Value, security, and above all trust.

Customer retention definition:

Customer retention refers to a company’s ability to turn customers into consistent customers and prevent them from switching to a competitor. It indicates whether your product and the quality of your service or customer support qualities please your existing customers. It’s also the lifeblood of most subscription-based companies and service providers.

Customer retention isn’t a responsibility that falls on one single team to earn for the entire business. It involves:

• The honesty of your marketing. 'Put yourself in their shoes.'
• The transparency of your pricing models.
• The pattern of your sales cycle, Ie: The process, the time it takes, and how the process goes for Install/activation.
• The quality of your actual products or services

If Emma reaches out to show their dissatisfaction with the service/ product, the company might keep her around by ensuring an agent is easy to reach and shows empathy. That agent can then note the reason for the cancellation so the concerned department reaches out can send her an email with a resolution that better meets her needs. The support team can also share her feedback with the product team so they can make improvements, and this can be communicated.

How to improve customer retention:

Improving customer retention begins with meeting customer expectations. Here are a few:

1. Quick and easy resolutions.
2. A clear understanding of the roots of the issue and being realistic about the outcome. Asking questions can be helpful in this regard.
3. Keeping a clear and short note of the issue by providing a brief and straight-to-the-point note.
4. Escalating the issue to the concerned department, or a team leader and creating an urgency for the matter so it will not be left out.

Note: It’s highly important to follow up on issues/tickets that customers sent as it’s easy for a customer to lose trust in a company that fails to meet its needs especially if it’s technical or billing related.

5. Build trust through knowledge and community:
   “The key is when a customer walks away, thinking, 'Wow, I love doing business with them, and I want to tell others about the experience.' " - Shp Hyken (Connor J. Wilson)
   Harnessing the power of self-service with a knowledge base builds trust.
   Using tools to communicate with the team. Regularly updates knowledge base with content tailored to where a user is in the customer journey.
6. Focus on the human touch:
   A study by Deloitte revealed that emotional connections drive customer loyalty—and even outperform discount incentives.
   This requires brands to think beyond the kind of “buy five coffees, get one free” loyalty program. Instead, they need an instant resolution as soon as possible.
7. Adapt and grow with customers’ changing needs and expectations:
   These businesses set themselves up to continuously change both toward things customers want and away from products or services it turns out customers don’t need. It’s also important to keep our latest offers and Items up to date to lower the competition from other providers.

Make loyalty rewards programs interesting:

Loyalty rewards programs are one way to show customer appreciation.
Referral programs are a customer marketing retention strategy that help businesses both attract and retain customers.
The “Refer-a-Friend” program gives customers and their friends a discount for every friend they refer.

Summary

The best customer retention strategies build better relationships. When you treat customers like humans as opposed to a number, they’ll feel a deeper connection to your business. And it doesn’t have to be a complicated, extravagant effort. Companies that master customer retention focus on the things they can do every day to consistently provide great experiences, whether that’s providing fast support or fulfilling the end-user needs and putting the company in the direction that it’s aiming towards.