Customer Retention Strategies
Customer retention is more cost-effective than acquiring new customers, and a loyal customer will be far more profitable. According to research, an engaged consumer will, on average, deliver 23% more revenue and profitability.
Is it better to chase new business or look after and RETAIN your existing customers?
Below we outline some key factors on what makes a GREAT retention strategy, ensuring you make the most of the customers you already have. It will benefit your customer lifetime value and boost your revenue if you take the time to make sure your customers are looked after.
What makes a GREAT Customer Retention Strategy?
Make the First Impression a Lasting One
Fresh customers are crucial; it’s time to backtrack a little. A stream of new clients is great, but only if they are treated well when interacting with your company. A company that attracts a lot of attention and fails to satisfy most of its customers soon develops a notorious reputation.
Treating your customers like cattle is not the route to sustainable revenues, and it never will be. Instead, when customers connect via firms, they want to be provided with helpful information. They want to be impressed from the start by how they are treated. Think about it. We often develop opinions about people based on how friendly they are when they meet us, and companies are no different.
Link Lead Capture to Customer Management
Find a Solution That Retains Customers
The truth is, you can’t base sustainable business success purely on fresh leads or loyal customers alone. Both of them should be priorities for a thriving business, not marginal concerns.
The challenge is finding a solution that chases new customers and retains them when they purchase, which Flowbird can assist. If you are looking for CRM and lead capture expertise, we will provide the advice and solutions you need.
Our Customer Retention Toolset
The cost of acquiring a new customer differs for every industry and, to a degree, every company. However, the data seems relatively consistent. The consensus is between 4-10 times more expensive to obtain a new customer than retaining existing customers.
Don’t wait until it’s too late - Our notifications & alerts, strategies provide busy people like you with the information you need when you need it. It does this by sending you, your colleagues, suppliers or customers real-time email and SMS messages 24/7, 365 days a year.
Report & Document Automation
Produce and distribute dynamic reports and documents - Automating your messages and documents can generate relevant information without users being involved, saving you time and resources. You can schedule ad hoc or on-demand reports in the format you need.
How does the cost of retaining an existing customer compare to the cost of acquiring a new customer?
Deciding whether to stick or twist isn’t just a problem for card players. It’s also a common dilemma for small and medium-sized businesses. On the one hand, you need to expand your sales efforts to attract more leads and open up new customer groups. On the other hand, if you focus too much on developing new prospects, you can neglect your loyal customer base, and they might go elsewhere next time they need to make an order? So what should you do? Stick with your client base and focus on repeat purchases, or throw caution to the wind and constantly appeal to new customers? The right strategy is to balance the two.
Perfect Your Sales Funnel to Consistently Attract Leads: Every business needs a lead generation and conversion strategy. You can’t survive forever by cultivating a few high-value customers and hoping that they will remain loyal.
In a competitive business environment, customers are constantly shopping around. With this in mind, you need to position yourself to appear on potential customers' radar. You can begin building an online sales funnel that attracts attention to your products, draws people onto your website, entices them to connect with you, and converts that interest into concrete sales. It doesn't matter how well you treat your customers if they aren't turning up in the first place; to put some effort into attracting prospects pays off.
2 key areas that impact your Customer Retention Strategy
Do you have more than one system running your business? - Re-keying information from one system to the next is both time consuming and prone to inaccuracy. For example, you can synchronise your customer information between your accounting, CRM and eCommerce package with little to no user involvement.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation enables you to maintain contact with your customers in an intuitive and fully controlled process to retain customers for longer.
Reliable, repeat customers are the foundations for sustainable success, as their sales allow firms to plan for the future. That’s why successful businesses work hard to keep high-value customers satisfied.
They know that a few regular customers are worth their weight in gold.
Thankfully, there are tools available to help any company optimise their customer relations. Chief among these tools is Customer Relationship Management software (CRM). Here are some things to think about if you consider implementing CRM into your day-to-day operations.
Create a Process Map to When Implementing CRM
Before you start tinkering with CRM, it helps carry out a full process-mapping audit across your enterprise. It entails visualising how resources flow across the business and how staff communicate with clients. With the information produced by a process-mapping audit, you will be in the position to start introducing new CRM strategies (and selling them to staff and other stakeholders). At Flowbird, we are process-mapping experts, so don’t be afraid to bring in outside assistance at this early stage.
With the information produced by a process-mapping audit, you will be in the position to start introducing new CRM strategies (and selling them to staff and other stakeholders). At Flowbird, we are process-mapping experts, so don’t be afraid to bring in outside assistance at this early stage.
Find the Right CRM Package For Your Needs
It is crucial. When you introduce a CRM system into your business, you will be making radical changes to how staff work and the IT infrastructure you use. It means that you need to be completely comfortable with the software you are buying and its configuration.
Try to find a CRM provider that knows your specific product area and has a track record of working with firms of your size. For small and medium-sized manufacturers, the personal touch of working directly with SME experts can ensure effective implementation. In the case of CRM, one-size-fits-all certainly doesn’t apply. You need a bespoke design that works for you, your staff and your customers, so choose wisely.
In the case of CRM, one-size-fits-all certainly doesn’t apply. You need a bespoke design that works for you, your staff and your customers, so choose wisely.
Create a Value Analysis Plan to Gauge CRM Success
When you introduce CRM, you need to define what constitutes “success” in mind. We know that CRM has many advantages. It keeps customers happy, draws new customers into your orbit, streamlines production and empowers staff. But it would help if you had concrete metrics to assess whether your CRM strategy is paying off.
We know that CRM has many advantages. It keeps customers happy, draws new customers into your orbit, streamlines production and empowers staff. But it would help if you had concrete metrics to assess whether your CRM strategy is paying off.
Are customer complaints dipping, and are these being resolved? Have repeat orders increased, and how much has this benefited the business? Questions like these lead to valuable information to feed into your processes in a positive feedback loop.
Questions like these lead to valuable information to feed into your processes in a positive feedback loop.
Can You Ensure Staff and Management Buy-In?
Can you be sure that your bosses or employees understand what you are trying to achieve? Don’t take anything for granted.
Businesses need to prepare for any enterprise-wide changes like CRM implementations, and such changes will always bed in more quickly and deeply if staff are convinced that they are vital. If you consider a CRM implementation, talk to every stakeholder about their roles.
Implementing CRM can be a massive boost for small and medium-sized firms, and it is a crucial component of a slick inbound marketing strategy. At Flowbird, we can advise introducing CRM to benefit you and your customers.
Do You Want To:
- Optimise CRM for its full potential?
- Build clients’ confidence in your sales team and business?
Download our e-series ‘Why You Need CRM for Your Sales Team‘ and get up-to-date on CRM features that boost productivity and increase sales.
This free e-series breaks down exactly which features benefit your business and offers feasible tips on boosting productivity today and in the future.
