Customer retention refers to the ability of a company or business to retain its customers over a period of time. It is the percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company or brand, as opposed to seeking out competitors. High customer retention is often seen as a sign of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and a positive reputation.
In this article we will discuss the top five customer retention strategies you should be focusing on.
Retaining customers is much less costly than managing high churn rates and paying to acquire new business. Having a foolproof customer retention program supports the maintenance of a loyal and growing customer base and nurturing relationships with existing accounts. Creating a customer-centric culture and providing excellent customer service are essential for building strong relationships with customers.
By implementing well thought-out customer retention strategies, companies can ensure that their customers remain loyal and engaged with their brand for years to come.
1. Provide Personalized Service
Every customer wants to feel like they are the only one. Ensure when providing services either proactively, or reactively (like support for an issue) that the service is personalized to that customer's needs. Personalizing service is a great easy way to start thinking about customer retention and building early customer retention strategies. In order to provide personalized customer service:
- Understand customer’s key goals and outcomes with your product
- Focus customers service experiences in the areas most meaningful to the customers
- Treat each customer contact individually
Personalizing customer service is a great way to identify shared goals and build a relationship your customers can rely on.
2. Use AI Powered Tools to Accelerate Customer Service Efforts
AI is all over the news for how it can accelerate certain business processes and make them smarter. While AI is not a silver bullet- it can help learn your customers and accelerate key touchpoints that tie back to your customer retention strategy. AI can help with ongoing, repeatable elements of your program like:
- Automating customer service processes
- Tracking customer behavior
- Providing timely resources to customers when needed
While we are far from the day when AI replaces human customer service interactions, it can help take some of the burden off customer service teams and elevate the customer experience which promotes customer retention. AI can also help frame a conversation around how to measure customer retention based on experiences over time.
3. Customer Retention Incentives and Rewards
Thanking customers is a critical part of all customer retention strategies and programs. Thank you gifts should be considered when a customer helps your company out by: providing feedback, helps improve your product, provides market validation for your marketing team, etc. Gift cards are a great thank you gift because they are flexible and work for both the customer and for your organization. Gift cards:
- Provide memorable experiences for customers that customers will associate with your brand
- Are easy to deliver electronically or in physical form
- Can adjust to fit any customer retention program budget
The Engage2Reward™ Choice Card also guarantees that your customer recipient finds value in the thank you gifts you provide. The Choice Card allows the customer to apply the gift card amount to over 250 eGift card brands available in the Engage2Reward™ portal.
4. Provide Access to Exclusive Information
Everyone likes to feel like they have the inside track, especially in professional settings. Giving your best customers access to exclusive information like your product plans or insight into the company’s strategic vision are specific customer retention strategies reserved for top customers. Some examples of how you can incorporate exclusive information into your customer retention program include:
- Sharing product roadmap information
- Providing access to events where executives and senior stakeholders within your organization share their perspectives on the business
- Providing first access to product testing and beta programs within your organization
5. Build Community Within the Customer Base
Peer networking within your customers base is a great way to build loyalty for your brand and product. Hearing best practices from peers can be more compelling than hearing it from your employees. Build community among customers by:
- Encouraging customers to talk to each other
- Using high performing customers as your industry experts in public forums
- Exposing customers who are at risk of churn to your best-in-class customers and their stories
If customers build community with each other, your product becomes indispensable to those relationships.
Conclusion
Client retention is a key business strategy, regardless of business size or industry. Ensuring you have a proactive customer retention strategy will help grow and maintain your business. Incorporating rewards such as gift cards into that strategy will strengthen the client experience and make your customer retention program memorable.
