Every year, businesses aim to improve customer retention. After all, keeping the same customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Also, existing customers guarantee better conversion rates. Since they have already bought from you, they will most likely buy from you again. You have already established trust, which makes it easier to predict their moves.
To keep their current pool of loyal customers, most organizations focus their efforts on improving their customer satisfaction. With so many strategies on customer retention, however, implementing the right ones can be tricky. Which strategies should you focus on?
Conduct Customer Retention Surveys
Investing in online survey software is the best place to start. Make sure your customers are happy with your services by asking for their feedback. Conducting a customer retention survey is simple, cost-effective, and offers comprehensive, real-time insight into where there are gaps that lead to poor retention rates.
You can conduct this type of market research at multiple touchpoints of a buyers’ journey. By investing in customer retention surveys, you gain a better understanding of your organization’s strengths, as well as spot bottleneck areas that discourage a positive customer experience.
Talk to Lost Customers
Another great way to improve customer retention is to interview customers who used to do business with you and stopped. You can do this through email or social media. During the interview, ask them the reasons they stopped doing business with you and how you can improve your products and services.
You can also conduct a lost customer survey. This requires the help of a third-party research firm since your customers might feel more comfortable providing honest feedback with them rather than be direct with you.
A lost customer survey can include the following questions:
- What caused you to leave our company?
- Why did you choose to work with us/buy from us in the first place?
- Are you working with a similar brand instead?
- Why did you choose our competitors?
- What can we do to earn you back?
Create a Customer Experience Program
A CX program enables your team to use real-time data and keep the pulse on changes in your customers’ satisfaction levels over time. The best way to know if organizational changes regarding customer processes, programs, and procedures help retention rates is to measure customer satisfaction before and after.
For this reason, more businesses are developing formal customer experience programs to give their businesses strategic insights needed for their growth.
Resolve Customer Issues Quickly
Pay close attention to where your business can improve the most. There are areas typically labeled as low satisfaction. If your company has an increase in complaints regarding returns processes and policies, it’s time to improve how customers can return defective/wrong products.
By acting immediately on poor customer feedback, your current pool of customers is more likely to use your products and services again — even if they didn’t enjoy their first experience.
Your current pool of customers is vital to your business’s growth. Retain more of them by learning more from what they have to say about you.
