How Much Do You Know About Customer Retention?

The most important things you should know about customer retention

Every business owner knows how important their customers are. Every business owner makes an effort to keep their customers happy.  However, many businesses are missing some of the most important aspects of customer retention. Customer retention is about far more than good customer service.

You already provide good service and reward your customers for their loyalty, but you can't stop there. We've put together some key requirements to help you retain your customers. How many of these about customer retention do you already know?

Customer retention needs to be company-wide

Many businesses allocate customer retention responsibilities to a single department or individual within the company. However, this approach does not yield the best results.

One of the most important things to know about customer retention is that it must be a priority for every person in your business. Whether in administration or marketing, all your employees should focus on how they can help retain customers. What can they do to improve the customer experience?

For this reason, ensure all your employees have a voice in your business's customer retention strategies.

It’s not all about the customers

Yes, you read that correctly.

To retain customers, you need happy employees. Positivity sells.

Happy, dedicated employees will sell your business better, provide better service, and go the extra mile for your customers.

On the other hand, customers are more likely to go elsewhere if their experience of your business is with an unenthused staff member.

Therefore, it's vital to consider staff well-being in your customer retention strategies. Companies that appreciate their employees will pass this positivity on to their customers.

Underpromise, overdeliver

It's easy to fall into the trap of overselling the benefits of your products and services.

While showing off what you can do is essential, err on caution. It's better for a customer to be pleasantly surprised when you exceed their expectations than to wonder why they're not getting what was promised...

Make it easy for your customers to get support.

No matter how hard you try, things go wrong. Sometimes, products don't work, and services fall short.

However, a negative experience can quickly be positive if the issue is resolved promptly and effectively.

Therefore, you must make it easy for your customers to get support. This could be a telephone helpline, a chatbot or a support email address.

Whatever you choose, ensure that these contact methods are clear to your customers (include contact details at the bottom of emails, invoices, and your website). In addition, ensure you always get back to your customers quickly to help resolve their issues.

In addition, create a wealth of useful resources for your customers to access if and when you're unavailable. For example, how-to guides, videos and FAQs are very useful. Highlight these to your customers so they can reference them when needed.

Onboarding is key

Onboarding is one of the most important techniques for customer retention; the most successful strategies start as soon as the customer signs the dotted line.

A good onboarding process gives customers an excellent first impression of what to expect from your company. It will offer support and communication to make customers confident in using your products and services.

Onboarding processes will vary depending on your business. They could be a series of emails or a one-on-one training session. Whatever they are, delivering a first-class onboarding system will have your customers returning for more.

We've covered a few of the most important things about customer retention. The take-home message is that customer retention covers so much more than simply providing a good service. It encompasses the entirety of your business, from the development of products to the delivery of services.

However, it's not an all-or-nothing approach. If your current customer retention strategy looks sparse, you can make a significant difference by implementing just one of the above suggestions. As your customer base grows and your capacity increases, you can develop a well-rounded customer retention strategy to cover all bases.

Contact us today for more advice on customer retention and where to start.