Retaining customers should be your number one priority during these perilous times. Given that a substantial number of companies closed due to Coronavirus, taking care of your loyal customers plays a crucial role in the fight for survival. To help you in this process, here are a couple of best tips for improving customer retention!
Invest in your employees
Going beyond the product or service you are selling and focusing on your most loyal employees is the key to success. It shows passion and dedication, and that is precisely what your clients want to see. A unique customer experience that transforms one time visitors into returning clients.
Improve your website
A website is a place for all the customers and visitors to find the most vital information about your company and products. Having a good website is not enough; you also must improve it every once in a while. People like new things, and a new website is just what your business needs!
Learn to understand your customers
If your customers have been leaving in the last few months, you have to ask yourself a couple of essential questions:
- Why are they leaving?
- Is there something wrong with the product?
- Are the prices too high?
- What is your communication with clients?
All these questions will help you understand your clients, and in return, give you an answer to how to stop them from leaving.
Communication is the key
After establishing the issues, it is crucial to work on communication. Three golden rules are simple. First, connect to your customers on a personal level. Treating them only as shoppers who spend their money will not give back good results. Second, show appreciation any time they come back. The best way is to offer occasional gifts or start a loyalty program. Third, ask for their feedback politely. This is your opportunity to find out if they have any remarks that could improve your business.
Customer service automation
Another one on the list of tips for improving customer retention is to consider automating your customer service process. Everyone needs to know how to react to a problematic situation and give the best response. Being consistent is the key to having happy clients. If one employee gives one reply, and the other gives a different one, the customer will be confused. Consequently, your company will not look professional in their eyes.
Work on local SEO
Focusing on your closest customers is a good idea. Even though taking your business online will give you a more comprehensive array of clients, you should still dominate your market first. Only by having a strong base will you be able to expand your business to other countries. Improving your local SEO is of vital importance here.
Let your customers “design” your products
The only reason why customers come to you is that your company is offering something they need. As soon as that changes, they will leave you and find another seller. You have to make sure your products satisfy their needs and demands. Find out what they want and what the main reason they are coming to you is. Use that information to rework products and services you offer, so they better match your client’s requirements.
Retaining customers holds the same value as finding new ones
Marketers usually like to spend more time finding new ways to attract customers. Coming up with retaining tactics might seem tedious. However, it holds the same level of importance. A company that continually changes its clientele can never truly progress. Only those who keep their most loyal customers will be able to grow their business even further.
Let your marketing team know that and work equally on both approaches.
Simplify the service
Introducing simple one-tap payment methods and cutting out any complicated processes that take a lot of time is an excellent way to improve customer retention. They need a fast and easy service. The “time is money” phrase never goes out of style, so honor your customers’ time. Make the experience simple! The less friction, the better.
Resolve their issues immediately
If there is a customer complaint, do not let them wait. The quicker you respond and remedy the issue, the more will customers appreciate it.
Make yourself available at all channels
Make it easy for your customers to reach customer support. You can create a ticketing system, give out company e-mail, open a call line, manage customer service on social media profiles, or even add an option for a live chat.
The best is to test each of these options for some time and see which ones give the best results. If you don’t have enough bandwidth to apply all these strategies, you should only focus on the most efficient ones. From personal experience, having a live chat option should be your go-to channel for communicating with clients.
Learn the spending habits of your customers
Selling products at a high price is not always the best way to make money. Also, giving away products at bargain prices will lead you to bankruptcy in a matter of months, if not quicker. You have to find the middle. Understand the spending habits of your customers, and set the prices accordingly.
Tips for improving customer retention – delivered!
As you can see, all of these tips for improving customer retention revolve around the same idea – make it about the customers, not the sale or the product. If there were no customers, businesses would not make any money. With that in mind, you should keep in touch with all of your clients, and make it a number one priority to keep them satisfied. It will be hard, and at times may seem like an impossible task. This is a 24/7 job, with no off days. However, you have to be persistent and not allow any setbacks to make you lose your hope.
Good luck!