Regardless of the specific products you sell or services you provide, competing within your industry likely requires creative and steadfast approaches to stay ahead of the game. Gaining customers is hard enough, but keeping them loyal to your organization calls for even greater focus, prompting a variety of customer retention strategies.
Despite technological advances and changes in the way people communicate with one another, building loyal customers is usually accomplished by staying true to fundamental principles pre-dating social media and the World Wide Web. So what are some of the essential, proven approaches to retaining customers?
Deliver
Precisely identifying your targeted customers’ needs is the first step toward building a loyal client base. Until you know exactly what your customers want, you’re ill-equipped to serve them for the long haul. While your products may be innovative; it is much easier to fill an existing need than it is to create a new one surrounding your goods and services.
Start by delivering exactly what you promise every time. While you may not strike the perfect balance right out of the gate, refining your need-filling approach is impossible without a reputation for delivering. As long as you do what you say, customers are more willing to stick around as you evolve. And remember: Your clients’ needs change over time too, so don’t get too locked-in to your approach. Instead, be flexible to respond to your customers’ changing demands. They will recognize your commitment to their satisfaction and reward it with loyalty.
Reflect Your Customers’ Values
Consumers want to do business with organizations they feel comfortable with, so there is no better way to set them at ease than playing-up the similarities you both share. Consider examples in the clothing industry, where producers are called out for poor labor practices. More than one clothing manufacturer has learned the hard way that people don’t want to align themselves with making use of child labor or exploiting third-world production standards.
Mirror the ethics of your customers, and they will return to you as a nod to their perception of shared values.
Give Them Something
One of the hardest concepts for bottom-line businesses to embrace is the value of giving things away. Coupons, frequent-buyer programs and other incentives offering discounts and savings land extremely well with value-oriented customers. The benefits extend even further as efforts to offer loyalty incentives ramp-up — but the monetary value of a gift is not always the linchpin for success. It is the thought that counts in most cases, so recognizing customers with gratis goods or services does not need to be a budget-busting endeavor. Freebies make customers feel appreciated, expanding their loyalty to your organization. And when free offers are unexpected, customers feel even more privileged. Cable companies operating pay-per-view movie services, for example, maintain loyal customers by extending unannounced coupons for a free movie with no strings attached.
Provide Ongoing Support
The point of purchase is the beginning of a client relationship, rather than the end. Follow-through keeps the door open, increasing the likelihood customers will walk through again and again. In addition to information supporting goods and services, prudent organizations respond to inquiries promptly, answering specific questions from customers.
Show buyers the best ways to benefit from the things they bought from you, increasing perceived value. And offer periodic updates related to products, keeping customers informed about advances. A new attachment for a vacuum cleaner or a tasty new recipe made with your company’s blender are each great reasons to stay in touch with buyers.
Maintain Personal Relationships
Social media and other channels make it easier than ever to stay connected with your best customers. Encourage your staff to address clients by name and reinforce personal connections with clients they service regularly. And to the furthest extent possible, focus efforts on your best customers, who most likely represent a lion’s share of your revenue.
What are some ways that your favorite companies have reeled you back in time and time again? Have you applied those practices to your own business? We’d love to hear from you! Leave us a comment below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
About the Author: This is a guest post by Sarah Brooks from Freepeoplesearch.org. She is a Houston-based freelance writer and blogger.