Five top tips for customer retention
So you’ve made the sale and the customer appears to be satisfied with their purchase. However, what can you do to make sure that this is not a one-off purchase and the customer returns time and time again? In the competitive business world, considering customer retention is key to a successful business practice, ensuring that your customers do not turn to your competitors. To help you out, here are five top tips for customer retention
, which you should look to follow:
- Check-in on them post-purchase
A week or two after your customer’s purchase, check in on them with a follow-up email or phone call. Courteously ask how they are getting on with their new product and encourage them to ask any questions that might have arisen. This is also a good opportunity to deal with any potential complaints proactively; for instance, if the customer is not 100% satisfied with their purchase, or it perhaps proves to be faulty, you could offer a replacement or discount on another product.
- Create a customer onboarding plan
Similar to a marketing plan, a customer onboarding plan clearly sets out the exact steps to be taken when dealing with customers post-purchase. Most customer onboarding plans include steps such as providing your customer with a contact in your business to whom they can refer for any more information regarding their product, and collecting data from customers to inform future sales tactics. However, it’s important to remember that whilst your customer onboarding plan provides an excellent framework, you should treat each customer individually and personalize their aftercare accordingly.
- Invite to VIP events
Part of your marketing plan probably involves hosting various events throughout the year, whether that is for the launch of a new product or simply a yearly celebration of your company. A VIP event might also include access to an exclusive discount code on your products and other similar offers. Ensure that you invite new customers to such VIP events as well as established customers. Doing this will give new customers an insight into the great benefits they will receive should they return to your business.
- Build trust through relationships
Most people like to seek a connection with others and prefer to do business with individuals rather than faceless corporations or websites. For customer continuity, try to be consistent with the salesperson dealing with any given customer. This will help to form a relationship between customer and salesperson, thus establishing an atmosphere of trust in your brand and business and allowing the salesperson to get to know the customers’ likes and dislikes. If that salesperson eventually moves on to another company, you could email their customers explaining the situation and assigning them a new salesperson to take over their account.
- Offer returning customer discounts
Perhaps one of the simplest ways of ensuring customer retention is to offer returning customer discounts. Offering money saving discounts such as this will entice customers back to your business, especially if the same or a similar product is available elsewhere at a higher price.
