Thriving in Retail: How to Retain Customers Effectively

Customer retention is the lifeblood of businesses. New customers are important but existing customers deserve your attention too. Sustainable growth isn’t possible unless you are retaining customers because the activity necessary to improve your customer retention rate has a better ROI than what’s required for effective customer acquisition. So let’s look at building an effective customer retention strategy that drives customer satisfaction and business success.

Understanding Customer Behavior

Unfortunately, you can’t assume that because a customer has been interested enough to buy from your business once they make a repeat purchase. Dig deeper into what drives customer behavior around brand loyalty.

Identifying Customer Needs

Generally, people make purchases to fulfill needs they have identified. What needs does your product fulfill? You can identify customer needs through customer research surveys and customer feedback forms. Clearly communicate the need you cater to and so why it’s important for them to retain the product or service.

Analyzing Purchase Patterns

Marketing to loyal customers requires sending the right message at the right time so look into purchase patterns. Track the timeframe in which customers tend to repurchase and what they tend to repurchase. That makes it much easier for you to send relevant marketing messages to customers that actually convert.

The Importance of Customer Relationship Building

A great way to stay in the good books of previous customers is to build strong relationships with them. If you can keep customers interested and engaged in the long term, they are more likely to feel a connection to your business. There are two very effective relationship-building strategies.

Personalized Communication

The worst thing you can do for customer loyalty is bore or bombard customers so personalize campaigns. Segment your email marketing, text marketing, and other contact lists according to previous purchases, interests, and other influential characteristics to ensure the relevancy and effectiveness of continued communication post-purchase.

Exceptional Customer Service

Exceptional customer service leaves a lasting impression. Customers will trust you with repeat purchases and send referrals your way because they really believe in your business. Consider how you can elevate the customer experience once they have purchased. What’s your onboarding process like? Do you have a customer service team dedicated to supporting existing customers? How can you go the extra mile to make your customers feel valued?

17 Customer Retention Strategies

1. Start a customer loyalty program.

Customer loyalty programs are an effective way to retain customers because they give them a reason to come back again and again. There are various ways to run loyalty programs. One of the most common is customers receiving points from their purchases, encouraging them to keep buying so they can trade in their points for the reward.

2. Collect customer feedback.

The act of asking for customer feedback itself supports customer loyalty because it shows customers that the business they are buying from cares about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Plus, the insights collected inform your customer retention efforts. Automate asking for feedback at key touchpoints in the customer journey.

3. Improve your customer support.

Ease of use is really important to customers. They don’t want to have to wait around to find information, make a buying decision, or understand how to use your product. Consider introducing a self-service customer support option where instead of having to reach out, they can search their query in an online customer support database.

4. Build customer trust.

Ultimately, customers return to businesses that they trust. They know that the product will solve their problem, the business aligns with their values and they will receive exceptional customer service. Ensure every interaction is another reason for customers to trust you.

5. Consistently delight customers.

It’s not just about meeting expectations. Plenty of businesses do that. Exceed expectations and delight customers. How can you go the extra mile? How can you surprise them? It could be something as simple as offering customers a discount on the anniversary of their first purchase. Do something that demonstrates extra care.

6. Send engaging emails.

Your customers are receiving plenty of boring emails that they delete without bothering to open. When your emails hit their inbox, they should be excited to open them. Offer genuine value instead of just selling. Use an engaging brand voice and create visual appeal. Make it interactive where possible, embedding polls or videos.

7. Start a referral program.

As well as rewarding customers for repeat purchases, reward them for referrals. It’s another way to stand out, thank loyal customers, and boost sales because people who already love your business have an incentive to recommend it to others.

8. Use customer accounts.

When customers set up an account, they get access to relevant information like their delivery address and order history which eases the CX without having to talk to the customer service team. It also makes repeat purchasing easier because they don’t have to input all their details each time.

9. Make returns easy.

With the rise of online shopping came the rise of online returns. While it might seem like a hassle, if customers don’t like what they ordered, they aren’t going to be satisfied with their experience. You might as well use this opportunity to show off your customer service abilities.

10. Build an online community.

Make customers feel like they are part of something by creating an online community. This could be a dedicated forum where customers connect and share their experiences. Or you could use your online presence to build a community on social media, creating a dedicated hashtag for example.

11. Incentivize loyalty.

Motivate your customers to come back for more. For example, you could send them a thank you message after purchasing that offers them 10% off their next order. Or how about doing an exclusive sale only for people on your email list? Make your existing customers feel special.

12. Offer fast delivery.

Fast delivery is a customer expectation in this day and age. It reflects the level of customer service. A great way to manage the waiting period between ordering and receiving the product is to provide real-time updates, allowing customers to track the progress of their orders.

13. Respond to customer support queries quickly.

Minimize disruption to the customer experience by responding to queries as soon as possible. If they are in the middle of making a purchase decision but need a question answered, you don’t want them to lose interest. If they have a question about using the product, you don’t want them to become frustrated because they can’t find the answer they’re looking for. Ensure you have efficient tools and a strong customer support team.

14. Offer a personalized customer experience.

Personalization of the customer journey boosts customer engagement and encourages customer loyalty through repeat purchases. Customers feel seen, heard, and understood and they are recommended purchases that make sense for them so they are more likely to buy. Personalize the customer journey by sending campaigns to specific segments according to the data collected on customer needs and interests.

15. Use omnichannel marketing,

Everyone has their preferred communication channel. Be present on multiple channels so as to not miss out on opportunities to reach your customers, keep them engaged, and encourage repeat purchases. Usually, a combination of email, text, and a couple of social media platforms is a good combination of omnichannel marketing.

16. Be proactive.

You should be continually calculating your customer satisfaction rate, customer retention rate, customer churn rate, customer lifetime value, and any other KPIs that reflect customer loyalty. Ensure the strategies you are currently using are still effective and explore strategies to make it even easier for customers to stick around by predicting their needs.

17. Create customer advisory boards.

Put customers at the heart of your customer retention efforts by setting up a customer advisory board. It will be a reliable source of information on what you’re doing well, what you could be doing better, and new strategies to try.

Utilizing Technology for Customer Retention

To succeed with customer retention businesses need the technology to stay on top of continually engaging a growing customer base at every stage of the customer journey.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

CRM software can do a lot of the leg work for you. It’s a central database for all customer contact information and data on previous interactions. You can track the progress of individual customers on the customer journey and refine the customer experience. The Podium CRM also has a unified inbox for managing multiple communication channels to ensure responsiveness, customize campaigns, and collect customer feedback.

Automation for Personalization

The best way to create a personalized experience for a large customer base is automation. Using the data stored in the CRM, tailor the communication individual customers receive from your business. Base campaigns are automatically sent to relevant customers at the relevant time.

Give your customers more reasons to stick around with our CRM platform and marketing tools that streamline the customer journey and make it easy for you to deliver a 5-star customer experience. Do it all with Podium and earn happy loyal customers.