Did you know that a five percent increase in your company’s client retention rate can yield a 25-29 percent increase in revenue? If you want to invest in marketing strategies with a significant return on investment (ROI), consider focusing on the business you already have before solely chasing new opportunities. When client retention is a top priority, scaling and acquiring new business is easier.
In this article, you’ll learn about the importance of retaining existing customers or clients. We will also outline five practical and actionable strategies for improving your company’s retention rate so that you can reap the benefits of a client-centric approach.
Why Does Client Retention Matter?
Prioritizing client retention doesn’t just help your company increase its revenue. It also comes with many other noteworthy benefits, including the following.
Saves Money
In general, it costs far less to retain an existing customer or client than to acquire a new one. Research suggests that acquiring new customers or clients is 6-7 times more expensive. If you want to reduce spending while still maximizing your results, you should focus on retaining and/or upselling your existing clients and encouraging them to continue doing business with you.
Increases Order Frequency
Loyal customers typically place orders more frequently. If you’ve won someone over and convinced them to continue working with you, they’ll be more inclined to buy regularly or even sign up for a subscription.
Increases Order Values
Similarly, loyal customers tend to place higher-value purchases than new customers. Someone who’s never worked with or purchased from your company before might make a small initial purchase or commitment to get a taste of what you offer without taking on too much risk.
On the other hand, someone who is already acquainted with your products or services will feel more comfortable placing a larger order because they already know what they’re getting and what to expect.
Referral Potential
Loyal customers are your best, and most economical, brand ambassadors.
Recurring and loyal customers are likelier to recommend your products or services to their friends, family, and network. This helps you acquire new customers without spending additional money on marketing and advertising. It is also more effective than traditional marketing means, as recommendations have more of an impact than an advertisement likely will.
5 Tips for Better Retention Rates
Are you interested in optimizing your retention strategy after hearing about the benefits of a strong retention strategy? If so, keep reading. We will cover 5 tips for doing exactly that.
1. Improve Your Customer Support
One of the best ways to retain existing customers or clients is to provide them with unparalleled customer service. The better you are at answering questions, resolving issues, and providing a positive experience through every stage of the customer journey, the more likely people will stick with your brand.
People want to support brands that care about them and go the extra mile to offer a great experience. Invest in improving your client support channels — this could be by investing in chatbots, expanding FAQs and resources, or offering additional training to your customer service representatives.
2. Create a Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs encourage people to continue working with your brand. The following are some examples of loyalty programs you might want to try:
- Points programs: Clients receive points for every purchase they make, then redeem them for rewards
- Spend programs: Clients receive loyalty credits for the amount they spend
- Tiered programs: Clients can climb to different loyalty levels based on spending amount, purchase frequency, or other similar metrics
- Paid programs: Clients pay a monthly or yearly fee to access specific perks such as priority customer service, presales, etc.
Whichever model you choose, loyalty programs motivate your audience to do business with you repeatedly and create multiple opportunities for you to impress them with a great experience.
3. Revamp Your Marketing Emails
Utilizing email marketing in your client retention efforts is an excellent way to use your marketing resources and connect with previous or existing clients. A solid email marketing strategy allows you to reach people directly in their inboxes, which is a more personal means of communication, and encourage them to consider doing business with you again.
For example, you can send a thank-you email to your active list, letting them know you appreciate their business and look forward to seeing them again. You can even include a link to your product page or scheduling tool to help them book another appointment.
4. Offer Discounts to Existing Clients
Another strategy that can utilize email marketing is offering a discount after someone makes their first purchase or a certain number of purchases. Once their purchase is complete, you can set up an automation to have an email sent to your customer or client with a coupon for a particular discount or reward (such as a free product or add-on) the next time they buy.
This approach incentivizes your customers or clients to shop with you again, which can create long-term recurring business if done properly. It also lets them know you appreciate their business and want to continue your relationship.
For example, you can send a thank-you email to your active list, letting them know you appreciate their business and look forward to seeing them again. You can even include a link to your product page or scheduling tool to help them book another appointment.
5. Consistently Collect Feedback
Regularly collecting feedback from your customers or clients makes it easier to find out what they like about your brand and what keeps them returning for more. You can also learn about issues they’re experiencing and make plans to address them to provide a better customer experience.
Surveys are generally the easiest way to collect customer or client feedback. Send them directly to their email inboxes and offer a reward (like a 10 percent discount) to everyone who completes the survey.
Bonus: Monitor Your Client Retention Metrics
Along with collecting feedback, you can also improve client retention for your business by continuously collecting and analyzing essential data. Here are some of the most important metrics you should keep in mind:
- Return rate: The number of customers who make more than one purchase
- Purchase frequency: How often do people make purchases?
- Average order value: The average amount customers spend on each purchase
- Lifetime value: Purchase frequency multiplied by the average order value
- Churn rate: The percentage of customers who have stopped shopping with you
Consistently tracking these numbers will help you understand how your business is doing and where you need to improve to boost your retention rate and bottom line.
Investing In Client Retention
Hopefully, it is clear now why investing in increasing client retention is so crucial. It helps you save money, increase revenue, and build better customer relationships, among other benefits. If you want to take your business towards its full potential, try to utilize at least a few of the strategies mentioned in this article.
Need professional digital marketing support? Our team at Bluehour Digital can help. SEO and content marketing are two other ways businesses can build themselves up for long-term growth and success, and that is what we specialize in. If you would like to learn more, please schedule a no-obligation consultation.