Killer Tactics to Retain Existing Customers for Your Business
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The fundamental element associated with any startup would be to gain clients and expand the customer base. However, in addition to acquiring clients, there is one more real challenge—ensuring customer retention.
What drives a business forward in the modern age is its ability to hold on to its customers for an extended period. A consolidated client base is referred to that number of clients that keep coming back to you for the services provided by your company. Having a consolidated client base can make a significant difference in the long run. Even business leaders agree that retaining customers cost cheaper than acquiring a new one. Studies show that it costs 5 times to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
Here are the best strategies, under which you will be able to keep a hold of the customer base that you have curated over a period.
1. Enhancing Customer Experience
As a customer yourself, you would love to be treated to surprises and perks associated with the things you buy. This venture helps in enhancing the customer experience to a significant level.
It has been estimated that a significant chunk of the revenue generated in any business is from its base of returning customers. They account for nearly three times the expenditure when compared to one time shoppers.
Providing them with long-term membership benefits, discounts, reward points, and loyalty bonuses can help in boosting client retention levels significantly.
2. Email Marketing
It would be wrong to undermine the capabilities of email marketing services in the age of the internet. The email marketing ventures, in this case, need to be directed towards an existing client base.
It is also crucial for you to maintain a directory of the most loyal and returning clients in your business. Using email marketing services, try to make them aware of any new lucrative schemes, offers, and rewards.
This approach will make them feel appreciated and valued in your system and thus encourage them to come back for more.
3. Focusing on the Customer Feedback
The customer feedback is among the best assets that you have at your disposal. As customers, these people are always on the lookout for benefits and services that would suit them. The customer himself can best orchestrate the appraisal for the service.
It is therefore essential to pay attention to details. The customer feedback plays a significant role in highlighting the various segments of your business. Especially those places, where the company lacks. When you pay due attention to these details and rectify the issues, the customer is entitled to better services, one that they have been looking for. This prevailing ideology can thus help take the business forward within a short time and enhance customer retention effectively.
4. Reaching out to the Customers
Communication is the key to customer retention in any business. It is vital that you reach out to your existing customer base on a frequent basis. You can make the use of newsletters, invitations, offer promotions and coupons to keep them interested in your products.
These kinds of ventures keep the customers intrigued for more. Try to keep them informed of any new product and provide them with every necessary detail. Work on initiating good customer response at the same time.
Ensure that these customers are properly greeted when they communicate with you. Try to pay close attention to what they say to make them feel important and valued in your system.
5. Enhancing the Body Language
Marketing experts believe that a positive body language has a crucial role to play in ensuring client retention. The human mind is highly capable of interpreting body language movements.
When you address a client of yours, do not allow the body to radiate weak or poor signals. This will make the client feel undervalued or possibly devalued in your system.
Try to make confident eye contact and focus on what they have to say. Do not try to avert from them since it can set them off in a brief time.
6. Honesty is Indeed the Best Policy
When running any business, you need to ensure that you maintain optimum levels of transparency and openness with your clients. When you accurately value your clients, you will feel entitled to confer them with exact details and opinions.
A transparent system ensures that the business is accessible at all levels, especially to the customers. It also helps to enhance the business relations and trust factor between the owner and the client. When the clients have trust issues, they tend to avoid the business.
When you are right with your products, the clients benefit. Catering to their needs and wellbeing can make the industry solidify very quickly.
7. A No to Over Exaggeration
It is crucial for you to remember that your clients will only know of things that you have told them. Therefore, when you relay information to them, ensure that it is real and unavoidable.
Overpromising or over exaggeration can lead to enhanced expectations, which may be difficult to fulfill at times.
8. Lucrative Promotional Offers for a Short Time
Major E-commerce brands such as CS-Cart have been known to push client retention policies even further by offering lucrative offers over a short time.
For instance, flash sales, clearance sales and end of season sales for a limited time can push client retention to a maximum. This is among the most conventional, yet highly effective ventures that you can take into account.
This simple step will help to boost client retention. These offers should be pushed at regular intervals to keep the customers interested and coming back for more.
To Sign Off
A creative approach is necessary to have the business secure its existing client base. Catering to the needs of the customers ahead of fundraising can alter the approach of the people towards your business. Inclination towards customer satisfaction is thus one of the best possible ways to keep them coming back for more. Any business thrives on client retention, and you should be aiming for the same.
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Yan Anderson is the Head of Content Marketing at CS-Cart with over 10 years of experience in the eCommerce industry. He's passionate about explaining complicated things in simple terms. Yan has expertise in building, running and growing eCommerce marketplaces. He loves to educate people about best practices, new technologies, and trends in the global eCommerce industry.