Ah, the wonderful feeling of landing that sale! Score!!!
Making a sale is a great starting point for any business. But true mastery lies in getting the customer to come back after that initial purchase.
In the competitive market today, achieving high customer retention rates can be challenging. As a result, businesses are aggressively fighting for their share of the market.
Still, that doesn’t mean that getting customers to come back is impossible. With the correct approach and strategy, you can make customers fall in love with your brand and frequent your business again and again.
Let’s explore a couple of clever strategies to increase customer retention in 2021.
1. Make Simple Instructions A Priority
Once the customer gets your product, it’s your job to ensure using it is simple. According to one report, over 86% of customers will give their loyalty to a business if they receive the necessary education about the product or service.
The same research states that over half of people returned the product as they didn’t know how to use it.
“Every bit of friction in the user process just increases the likelihood that someone will put down your product and not pick it up again, writing it off as a sunk cost.” Forbes, Mary Juetten
A good example of this strategy at work is the success of the Swedish furniture conglomerate, Ikea. The company built its business model around offering affordable furniture to its customers. And it does so successfully as Ikea currently operates 445 stores worldwide. Part of the reason for this success is the fact that consumers can assemble their own furniture. Simple step-by-step instructions transform a seemingly difficult task into something anyone can easily do.
IKEA makes instructions for their furniture using simple pictures not words. Why? Accessible to anyone-all languages!
Visuals TRANSCEND languages. pic.twitter.com/CPlEy8s0vS
— ???? ναℓєηтιηα gσηzαℓєz (@ValentinaESL) April 2, 2021
And so, including all the necessary instructions with a product or a service you’re selling can make customers come back for more. After all, the last thing you want is people setting aside your product because they can’t learn how to use it.
Video tutorials can be a great way to communicate instructions. You can share written instructions on your blog. It all depends on the type of product or service you’re offering.
2. Establish A Community
Establishing a community around your brand takes a lot of dedication. But it’s an essential step, as you want to stay ahead of the competition.
Acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.” Harvard Business Review
You can use social media to your advantage and reshare user-generated content. Or engage with your audience in a playful way by sharing humorous or quirky content. It will motivate others to do the same and establish a strong bond between your business and its customers. Many businesses use this tactic to create a community around their brands. On top of it, the community will bring effortless exposure and access to investors if you later decide to sell your business.
Here is a great example from Innocent Drinks.
Our boss suggested that we might want to go on a marketing course soon, so we showed them this.
Probably gonna ask us to run the course now. pic.twitter.com/qJfiOoGqxA
— innocent drinks (@innocent) September 8, 2021
3. Ask For Feedback
Asking for customer feedback is beneficial in three different ways.
First, your customers will see that you care about their experience with your product. Also, they’ll know that you’re putting in the effort to make it even better in the future. That’ll make them buy from you again.
Second, you can get valuable data on how you can improve your product. While positive feedback is a great motivator, most of your knowledge will come from negative feedback. Put special emphasis on the feedback of your leaving customers. You’ll learn the most from them.
Third, you can repurpose the feedback in your advertising efforts. You’ll get an idea of how it can work with a couple of testimonial advertising examples. It’s a great way of growing trust with your potential clients.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates
The best part is that asking for feedback is simple. It all starts with a simple email. If you’re selling a product, you can include the request on a card alongside it. Monitor your socials at all times. You’ll get plenty of opinions over there.
A3 I’m a huge advocate for simply asking your audience/clients/customers for feedback. Having that clear communication and transparency is key for trust between you and your clients
And it never hurts to be active where they are
-Alyx #ChatAboutBrand https://t.co/i1J2e7TeTf— Charlie & Alyx – Charlie Appel Agency (@ColfaxInsurance) September 7, 2021
4. Make Your Social Media Customer Care Shine
With billions of users on social media, you’ll find plenty of them expecting to reach out to you there. 66% and above feel more confident about the brand if they can contact it on social media channels.
Over 60% of customers think solving an issue fast is the most important part of good support. That alone makes social media customer service invaluable because it’s another channel for near-instant chat.” Zendesk
Your goal should be to perfect your social media customer service. Strive to quickly reply and resolve any potential issue that your customer is experiencing. It’ll go a long way as your customers are more likely to return in the future. In a world where time is everything, the best support you can give is a quick resolution to a problem.
5. Aim For Flawless Customer Experience
Your customer service begins from the moment your client lands on your website. Therefore, the mission is to make the whole journey a seamless experience for the customer. All the relevant data needs to be one click away.
Make achieving that goal a priority. Leaving a great first impression is the best way for customers to remember you.
“88% of Americans have negative feelings about brands with poorly performing websites and mobile apps. The more user-friendly your website is, the more confidence you will inspire in each of the customers who use your site. If they feel as though your website was designed specifically with them in mind, they will remember it and come back to use it each time they have a need that you could solve.” CharleyGrey
One of the best ways to achieve this goal is to include all the essential data in the purchasing process. That includes things such as:
- What payment methods you accept
- Your shipping policy
- Return policy
The more details you provide, the better. You want the user to understand all the crucial information before making a purchase.
Then, it’s your job to deliver on your promise and make the whole purchasing experience a positive one.
6. Create a loyalty program
People rarely say no to incentives. Therefore, creating an effective loyalty program will make a positive impact on your customers’ satisfaction and increase customer retention. You need to offer some value to motivate your customers to come back to your brand.
“77% of consumers say they are likely to stay with a brand that has a loyalty program.” Forbes, Patricia Rioux
You can use methods such as:
- Discount points.
- Provide access to special sales to loyalty program members.
- Offer special promo codes to loyal customers.
Take a look at a couple of loyalty program examples. Stay creative and provide plenty of value to your customers. They’ll more likely return to work with you in the future.
Last month, @GapInc announced a new #rewards program that encompasses all 4 of its #retail brands.
This new program streamlines the process of earning points and also gives consumers the option to donate them to charity.
Way to drive customer #loyalty???? https://t.co/uSRPXdt4xN
— Rob Garf (@RetailRobGarf) September 2, 2021
7. Implement various tools to improve customer retention
Knowing smart strategies to increase customer retention is one thing, but successfully deploying them is another. Even though you know what you have to do, you need to use the right tools to succeed.
And do, some of the following tools will help you improve your communication, while others will help you streamline some processes. The goal is to make your customers happier and more confident to work with you.
Consider implementing:
- MailChimp – A go-to solution for managing your mailing list. It’ll help with building up that loyalty program and communicating with your clients.
- Buffer – A perfect little tool for managing your social media channels. Use it to build up your community.
- Zoho – It’s the perfect tool for building solid relationships with your customers.
- PandaDoc – Make collaboration with your clients seamless with this tool. Use its contract templates to offer services to your clients quickly.
- Tauria – All clients value privacy. This platform offers End-to-End encryption for messages and video calls.
Use these tools to keep your customer retention high.
“Only a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company revenue by 25-95%.” HubSpot
Finishing thoughts
In conclusion, keeping your customers loyal is an ongoing journey with plenty of challenges. Luckily, using these strategies can help you increase customer retention. Never stop researching. You can always try out new methods. Consequently, you’ll always stay ahead of the competition.
What are some strategies that you’re using?
