In virtually every industry, the cost of retaining a loyal customer is far less than the cost to acquire a new one. Therefore, encouraging customer loyalty can mean big savings for your business. Here are a few things to consider when trying to maximize customer loyalty:
1. Feature Your Customers & Success Stories in Your Content
Feature your customers or people who say great things about your brand in the content you write. Put them in the spotlight and let them know how much you appreciate their loyalty and endorsement. Once they see the reciprocity, they’ll make your brand a priority and, in the process, will become your biggest advocates.
2. Gift Them With Care
If your customers take an interest in what you’re talking about and what you do as a company, it’s only fair for you to reciprocate. Take a look at their social accounts or distribute a survey to see what kinds of things they really enjoy, and then send them something you know they’ll like and will not be able to put down. They’ll definitely talk about it through their social accounts and, more importantly, they’ll talk about it in person with their friends, family, colleagues, and anyone else who will listen….and put your brand in the spotlight.
3. Invoke the Inner Ego
Most people prefer products and companies that slightly resemble the self. This preferences, also known as implicit egotism, is an key concept to keep in mind when talking to customers. To attract meaningful customers, you need to identify your target customers down to the nifty gritty, then craft a message “deal” that matches their painpoints and goals. What we’re implying is that in order to be successful in customer retention you have to make each customer feel special with a solution that no one has but them.
4. Don’t just sell, educate
According to distinguished entrepreneur and blogger David Skok, sales is more effective when you have an existing relationship with a customer, and when you’ve already provided the value to them. This argument is consistent with the research of TARP Worldwide, which shows customers do enjoy receiving helpful recommendations on new information and products that will help them achieve better results.
5. Invest in a CRM System with Good Insight & Analytics
The best way to retain customers and prevent them from defecting to competitors is to prevent them from leaving in the first place. If you pay enough attention, you can always see the signals of your customers impending departure ahead of time. All you have to do is to identify the key variables such as purchase patterns, product usage and service calls – Capture the signals and then put actions in place to stop them from making the switch.
That is where your CRM tool comes in handy. Let’s say you want to know how many of your VIP clients have not purchased anything from you in the last 6 months, which might be a sign of low retention. First, you create a list of all of your VIP customers and their typical purchasing habits and then you create a list of all sales made within the last six months using your CRM software. By creating these lists and doing proper comparisons, you will end up with a list of VIP customers who haven’t purchased from you in the last 6 months. Using the analytics and insight your CRM tool has provided, you can then follow up with these customers and find out the reasons why they were not purchasing and look for ways to get them to reconsider their decision.
6. Enhance Customer Service
If you’re anything like me, the number of personal details you’re able to retain in your mind is limited. Without reminders from my Facebook account and virtual calendar, I would likely miss 90% of the birthdays, anniversaries and other social gatherings around me. Since most businesses are not friends with all of their customers on Facebook and most people don’t add too many details in the calendar, a CRM tool can come into very good use. This platform allows you to keep track of individual customers with pertinent information like their contact details, last purchase date, and any personal notes your staff makes, such as birthdays, anniversaries, allergies, and favorite item. Use this information to enhance your customer service! I.E., Send a birthday card, celebrate anniversaries of business deals with discounts and savings, send an occasional thank you email and check to see how their use of your product/service is coming along.
Carmel Vision, a Toronto based CRM software development company, is focused on delivering a powerful management infrastructure that is designed to collect, search, and archive all content, contact and communication activities that take place in a typical office. We understand and listen to all of our customers’ needs and strive to give excellent quality at affordable prices.
Our flagship product, InfoFlo – is a central management system specifically designed to combat one of the biggest technical challenges facing any professional organization, how to efficiently organize, archive, filter and search the vital information that bombards our desktops on a daily basis. Our infrastructure allows all office activities to coexist together under one umbrella, making all critical information readily available at your fingertips.
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