What is Customer Retention?
Simply put, customer retention is the act of deterring customers from defecting to another company or the actions taken by a company to encourage customers to remain. Most businesses place a greater emphasis on new customer acquisition than on customer retention. In fact, approximately 44 per cent of businesses place a greater emphasis on customer acquisition, approximately 18 per cent place a greater emphasis on customer retention, and approximately 40 per cent place equal emphasis on both. Customer retention, on the other hand, is significantly less expensive for businesses than customer acquisition. This trend appears in all studies on the topic of retention vs acquisition, but how much cheaper is difficult to determine; some studies claim five times, while others claim as much as 25 times.
So, if customer retention is less expensive, why are so many businesses focused on acquisition?
The simple answer is that all businesses require both, and more new customers mean more customers you can persuade to stick with your company and its product or service.
These are the six most effective methods for retaining clients:
- Pay attention to your customers
Addressing churn issues at your company begins with actively listening to what your customers have to say about their experience.
Unfortunately, there is a significant gap between companies that believe they provide a superior customer experience (80%) and customers who believe they received superior customer service (8 per cent).
- Make certain you are aware of their business objectives
It is impossible to provide excellent results for your clients unless you have a thorough understanding of their business and company objectives. Aside from learning the ins and outs of their product offerings, it’s also important to understand what they consider to be a success.
As digital marketers, it can be tempting to track progress using the key performance indicators (KPIs) that we consider most important. Our clients, on the other hand, frequently have no idea how these metrics relate to their businesses. Take the time to explain how paid search can affect their business plan and how their goals can be linked to PPC-based KPIs. Finally, their objectives should drive your strategy.
- Establish a Personal Connection with Clients
People who work in paid search are chameleons in a sense. When it comes to bidding strategy, we’re mathematicians; when it comes to ad text, we’re creative writers; and when it comes to tracking codes, we channel our inner developer. Yet, how frequently do we consider ourselves to be customer service representatives? This aspect of the role is overlooked by far too many practitioners, which is a dangerous mistake.
Opening a line of communication with clients from the beginning pays off handsomely. Spend time with the client at the start of the project to really determine the project’s goals and scope. This allows you to manage their expectations from the start.
Account managers should then meet with clients on a frequent basis, not only to provide status updates but also to discover what’s new on their end. They’ll share what’s important to them throughout these interactions, allowing you to adjust your plan to match their demands.
These meetings are also a great way to introduce your clients to new strategies and experimentation. If you can build trust with the client ahead of time, they’ll be more willing to try new things when you provide them with fresh ideas. Even if the new technique doesn’t achieve the desired results, they’ll be more patient as you strive to bring performance back on track if you have their buy-in.
- Demonstrate Your Success Through Regular Reporting
One of the most effective ways to demonstrate that you’ve made significant progress in a client’s account is to demonstrate it with cold, hard numbers. Instead of thinking of themselves as vendors, agencies should consider themselves profit centres. Take charge of the leads and revenue you generate through reporting. Providing some form of reporting is, of course, a no-brainer for most agencies. In fact, you’ve most likely included this in the contract for your services. The issue is that far too many reports fall short of the mark.
A good report should be easy to read and relevant to the client. It is critical to first understand the KPIs that are important to the client. Then you can provide reports demonstrating how you are influencing those measurements. Remember that your clients are unlikely to be familiar with PPC jargon. Even if they understand the basics, they may not understand how each metric interacts with the others. As a result, your reports should assist them in connecting the dots.
- Provide Outstanding Customer Service
This may appear obvious at first glance, but keep in mind that what a company considers excellent customer service does not always correspond with what the customer considers excellent customer service. Perception often differs greatly. In fact, while 75 per cent of organisations believe they are customer-centric, only 30 per cent of customers do. According to a 2017 study, 8 out of 10 customers are so frustrated by this that they are willing to pay more to have a better experience.
Here are a few ideas to help you take your customer service to the next level:
- Provide a unified and consistent experience – a customer should always feel as if they are receiving the same level of care and attention whether they are speaking with you on the phone, via email, or through a live messaging service.
- Multiple contact channels should be available to accommodate a variety of communication preferences.
- By assessing the customer’s needs and assigning the agent most skilled in that area, you can route the right agents to the right customers.
- Be Personal
You’re gathering a lot of information about your customers; use it to improve their experience. Before contacting a customer, you should know how they prefer to be contacted, what they have previously purchased, and how previous interactions went. Customers do not want to be treated as just another number, and they will become irritated if they are required to repeat the same information repeatedly. By providing a personalised experience, they will feel like they are a part of your team and will associate your company with a pleasant and easy experience.
Despite the fact that gaining new customers is a sign of business growth, losing customers is simply too costly.
Existing customers provide you with a better chance to grow revenues than prospects because they are more inclined to buy from you.
And, in order to do so, you’ll need a CRM tool to keep your relationships alive.
CRM software allows you to collect and manage information about your customers as well as management actions related to client engagement.
Use the information provided by CRM software to not only retain customers but also to keep them satisfied and increase earnings – all without incurring the costs of obtaining new ones.
You can also seek professional assistance from a digital agency. For experienced digital marketing, contact The Social Lions in Mumbai.
