Leads, customers, and sales, that’s the loop businesses are caught in. The biggest asset of a company is its customers. It’s sad that most businesses spend a lot of effort in generating leads but hardly any on retaining customers.

What is the Simplest Customer Retention Tactic?

Just optimize customer experience and you’ll unlock great revenue and retention. With modern tools, you can engage with customers in real-time. Messenger by Facebook is perhaps the easiest to implement for this. Who’d walk out on a business that treats them like a guest?

Customer Retention Tactics for Startups

Startups might find it tricky to retain customers. Their first priority is to acquire customers. But they still have a great thing going for them; startups are flexible in how they communicate with customers. After doing the obvious, which is improving customer service and products, startups should ask their loyal customers for referrals. They’re loyal because they ARE happy with your output. Optimize. Focus on the things that truly matter.

How to Retain Customers through Digital Marketing

Digital marketing should not make things complicated even if you’re using it for the first time. An online presence offers seamless communication with consumers. You can get plenty of insights about your customers.

• Spectacular web design and mobile apps help with repeat business
• Add automation and you can do much more with a few resources. Automation ensures a consistent flow of content towards your customers.
• Data analytics teach you a great deal about customers.
• Discover their preferences. For instance, with data insights, you can examine why some customers spend more time on your website while others leave early.
• Improve the features that visitors find attractive about your website or Facebook page.

How to Keep Customers Coming Back

1. Stay in touch – When you sell them something, don’t get greedy, eyeing the next transaction. Build a relationship with them using social media, emails, and posts.
2. Remind them about your Awesome Business – When someone purchases an item that doesn’t mean that they’ll remember you. If you haven’t heard from them in a while, send them a reminder that you would love to do business with them again.
3. Keep it fresh – Be creative with your services. Come up with new promotions and attractions to keep your services fresh.
4. Surprise them – A pleasant surprise is long remembered. So, go beyond expectations and treat your customers like royalty. If you can, send them a birthday gift.
5. Have your best people on the front line – You could have the best product in the market but if the customers are leaving the store after a dull or unpleasant interaction with your employees, they’ll walk away. Make sure you have a competent, friendly and energetic team.

The Most Productive Customer Retention Tactic

Run a rewards program.

This is arguably the most effective strategy to retain customers. Use points, VIP tiers, or referrals. This way, you make every stage of communication with your customers rewarding. They might even look forward to interacting with you.

Look at it this way, it would be difficult for your customers to switch to another provider when they are getting so much from you. Rewards could be based on simple actions such as liking a Facebook page or sharing a post on social media.

Some Successful Customer Retention Strategies from Around the world:

TOMS Inspirational Mission

TOMS has fused old-fashioned entrepreneurship with philanthropy. Companies involved in environmental campaigns or those that contribute to philanthropy are admired by customers. Source: TOMS
But, this doesn’t mean that your company should become altruistic. You can integrate your marketing message with something that your customers care about.

Starbucks

In the beginning, Starbucks owners focused on the aroma and ambiance of their stores, which worked wonders. Now, knowing how their customers have to wait in line for coffee, they have introduced ordering from their app to ‘skip the line’. They prepare your coffee in advance and you simply walk in and pick it up.Source: Starbucks

Tesco

Tesco personalizes its interaction on social media. Check their Twitter timeline for inspiration.Source: Twitter
Note: To follow suit, identify the preferred media of communication of your customers. Frequently interact with them through it, be it Instagram, Snapchat, blog or email.

R&G Technologies

Business-to-business (B2B) is specifically rewarding for retaining customers. R&G Technologies is an Australian B2B company that has made customer retention an art. They send surveys frequently to identify the customers that aren’t happy and prevent them from leaving.

Source: Client Heartbeat

Mac

Mac vs. PC ad campaign is a spectacular example of how a brand draws a line between itself and the competition. The ads are well scripted and acted. Apple hired professional actors for this. The crafty ads aim to define the personalities of people who buy Macs and of those who choose PCs. Source: Apple

Running such ads might be expensive but the idea behind them isn’t. Why should customers buy from you? How are you different than the business across the street dying to steal your customers?These questions should be on your mind if you want to improve your sales funnel.

Retaining customers takes patience and hard work. It’s a long term strategy but once you figure it out the rewards are endless.