You have two types of customers: new clients acquired over the life of a business and returning customers that have previously used your goods or service.
Acquiring a new customer is expensive, and it can take sales teams a while before finding a qualified lead. But on the other hand, experts believe that retaining old and returning customers is easier and more profitable.
And research shows that they are correct. For example, it costs 5x more to attract a new customer than retain an old one. So, while customer acquisition is still essential, retention has a more significant role in your sales and revenue, making it paramount for a business to flourish and grow.
The Asian eCommerce market amassed a total market value of $428 billion in 2020. And if you want your part of this pie, it's time to find and implement customer retention strategies that'll bring recurring buyers to your business.
Let's explore some of the leading strategies you can use to retain customers.
What Is Customer Retention
Customer retention is synonymous with building a relationship with your customer beyond the transaction. Unfortunately, most businesses approach customers incorrectly. They believe that each transaction is a one-and-done deal and that there's nothing left to do once a sale is finalized.
Applying customer retention strategies to your business can help you improve customer loyalty and keep them coming back to make repeat purchases. Moreover, studies indicate that you are better off retaining existing customers. This is because 65% of sales for a business come from existing customers.
Retaining customers helps your revenue in terms of sales and enables you to cut costs. As mentioned before, acquiring a new customer is expensive. Organizations can save seven times by focusing on retention rather than acquisition. Let's look into your organization's strategies to increase customer retention.
7 Customer Retention Strategies
The age-old saying "the customer is always right" is the basis of customer retention. Here are seven strategies that can help you improve customer retention.
Improve Response Time
With the digital era in full swing, customers want instant responses. According to a study, 56% of customers agree that the efficiency of customer service dictates their loyalty to the brand. There are a number of things that you can do to make the customer service experience better.
The first step has live chat functionality on your website. When a customer visits your website to make a transaction but has some questions about the product or service, the best time to solve their query is right there and then. Once they leave your website, you can risk losing the customer altogether.
Live chat functionality can help you instantly respond to your customer.
Whether automated, manual, or a mix of both, live chat can help you convert customers and retain them. Showing customers importance can encourage them to keep returning and making purchases from your brand.
Appeal To The Customers' Emotion
When describing a brand, they are loyal to, a customer uses emotional language rather than functional. Let's take the example of Apple's iPhone. When discussing iPhones, a customer rarely talks about the bionic chipset, a crowning functionality of the iPhone. On the other hand, they would discuss it as a statement, a symbol, and other aspects that appeal to the customer emotionally. A study conducted by Deloitte found that 60% of customers use emotional language when describing their favorite brands.
Experts believe that you should have little surprises for your customer to generate positive emotions. This can be exclusive gifts and free merchandise to something as minor as wishing them on their birthday. Here are a few things to make your customer feel special and create a relationship with them.
- Deliver emails or handwritten notes on special days to your loyal customers
- Send birthday gifts or offer special birthday discounts
- Offer service upgrades
- Share their social media posts
- Invite them to exclusive events
These may not make a massive difference to your brand. Still, these small gestures can help you retain customers and keep them returning for future transactions.
Loyalty Program
If your customer shows loyalty, it is only fair that you reward them for it. Loyalty programs are tried and tested methods to improve retention rates in customers. Allowing customers to earn rewards for their purchases can be a great way to keep them coming back to your brand. According to a study, 81% of customers have agreed that loyalty programs encourage customers to spend more with a brand.
It should be noted that having a loyalty program alone is not enough for customers retention, and this needs to be accompanied by other strategies to offer results.
Share Customer Reviews
A customer will always take another customer's word over the brand itself. This is because another customer does not have any bias against the brand and will give their genuine feedback. Experts advise that customer reviews and testimonies can positively impact the perception of your brands in your customers. As for retention, seeing your testimony on the brand page or website can instill a feeling of special treatment to the customer and encourage them to keep returning to your brand while offering their feedback every step of the way.
Customer reviews help give your brand credibility and meaningful insight into what needs to be done to improve the brand. This data, if used properly, can help you excel in your business.
Personalize Interactions
Personalization plays a huge role when trying to retain customers. This can be as little as knowing the person on a first-name basis or having their entire purchase history and using that data to suggest goods or services that the customer will be interested in. To achieve this level of personalization, experts believe that your sales reps should have access to the customer's data to address their issues in the best way possible. Some of this data can include:
- Why does the customer purchase a specific product
- Customer service history
- How satisfied they were with the product
- How long have they been buying from your brand
All this information can help your sales team appropriately interact with the customer, and personalization can help them retain customers better.
Create Valuable Content
When a customer goes to your website, they are often met with sales pitches and products that they can purchase from your brand. This is an excellent way to convert customers, but the content you have on your website can make a serious impact on the customer. Offering customers with valuable and insightful content builds trust and credibility and keeps the customer on your website for an extended period. This improves your analytics and shows the customers that the brand is focused on making money and helping them with their content.
Experts suggest that creating blogs pertaining to the customers' requirements, sending newsletters, sharing how-to videos for their products, and other content-related aspects can all work towards building a better relationship with your customer. However, you need to ensure that your brand's content strategy focuses on selling your products and this type of content.
Reach Out Through Social Media
Social media has seen a massive boom over the years. Almost everyone is on one social media platform or the other. Reaching out to your customers on social media can be a great way. Recent studies have shown that 64% of consumers want brands to reach out to them on social media, which is the most easily accessible medium.
Interacting with customers on social media can show a level of personalization, giving your customers the impression that the brand cares about them. Something as simple as replying to your customer's comment can be enough to bring them back. A personalized response can go a long way in retaining customers for your brand.
How Zaapi Can Help
Customer retention strategies are not quick or painless; these must be constantly tested and improved to capture the audience. This is where Zaapi comes in. It allows marketers to create an eCommerce website that offers maximum functionality and deals with every aspect of sales and marketing.
Additionally, Zaapi offers its own CRM system that can be used per the brand and designed to encourage customer retention and acquisition. The online market is vast in Asia, with Thailand having the second largest market share. This means that you can obtain a large audience from the South Asia region and capitalize on the market.
Whether you are looking to get new customers or retain your existing customers, Zaapi can help you every step of the way.
Wrapping Up
Customer retention is the best way to ensure a steady revenue stream and sales for your brand. Although a brand should constantly aim to get new customers, it should not put retention on the back burner. The best way to retain a customer is by showing them that you care as a brand.
If you can show your customer that you know them, their interests, and their buying pattern, you can build trust and a stronger relationship with your customer.
