11 simple strategies to retain customers and build brand loyalty

04/10/2018

Winning new customers is a top priority for many businesses. But, whilst new custom is important, often the easiest way to keep your business growing is simply to keep hold of your existing ones.

Unfortunately, in today’s market, this is harder than ever before.

Customers are constantly surrounded by adverts for competing products and services. They are able to find alternative providers at the click of a mouse and comparing prices is easier than ever, so cheaper providers are at an immediate advantage even if their service is not as good.

However, with a good customer retention strategy, you can keep your customers happy and build brand loyalty.

Why is customer retention important?

One of the easiest ways to grow your business is to keep your existing customers coming back
It costs more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one
Returning customers are known to spend more than first-time customers
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, brand loyalty is vital for continued success

How to retain your customers

In order to keep customers happy and encourage brand loyalty, it’s vital for businesses to continuously optimise and update their customer retention strategies.

With that in mind, here are 11 simple strategies to retain customers and build brand loyalty.

How many have you considered?

1. Know your sales cycle

Do you know your business’s sales cycle? Will your customers use your services again in a week, a month or a year? Knowing this information helps you decide when to send out relevant campaigns to pique their interest and encourage repeat purchases.

2. Encourage all new customers to subscribe to your email list

Email marketing is a simple way to keep in touch with your customers. By constantly dripping relevant and interesting content into your customers’ inboxes you will keep your business front of mind. Then, when your customer is ready to make a repeat purchase, your business will be the first company that they think of. Emails can even contain offers or free guides to provide added incentives for customers to stay loyal.

3. Welcome your new subscribers

Not only is this essential for GDPR, welcoming your subscribers is a good way to keep the momentum going. Your welcome email should contain a warm and friendly introduction, a summary of what they should expect to receive from you, a link to your company’s privacy policy and contact details. You might even want to include an exclusive offer or links to relevant content to keep them actively involved from the outset.

4. Consistently communicate

It’s important to communicate with your customers on a regular basis. Emails make it easy to send newsletters, offers or event invitations that your customers may be interested in. You can also reach out by phone. Courtesy calls are a great way of building and maintaining solid relationships which can build brand loyalty. The key is to find the right balance of messages so that you’re not constantly overwhelming your customers with content.

5. Re-engage customers

Don’t let unengaged customers escape your attention. Just because someone hasn’t engaged with you recently doesn’t mean that they won’t ever return to your business. Keep track of customers who have been quiet and target them to grab their attention and bring them back.

6. Say thank you

Never underestimate the power of the words “thank you”. Sometimes it’s all it takes to show your customer that you appreciate their business. There are numerous ways to say thank you, either in person, with a little note in the product delivery or even a separate thank you email. It doesn’t matter how you say it as long as you remember to do it.

7. Adopt a loyalty scheme

To further show your appreciation you could implement a loyalty scheme. Loyalty schemes are a great way to encourage customers to purchase more often in order to earn valuable rewards. This benefits both parties as your customer gets more value with each purchase and you benefit from their repeat business.

8. Provide support

When a customer encounters a problem with your website, product or service it can be enough to turn them away from your business. To avoid this happening make sure that you have a clear way for them to access support. You could prominently place a “get help” button on your website. A live chat feature on your website also provides another way for users to seek support when they need it rather than seeking an alternative provider.

9. Get feedback

Asking for feedback about your products or services shows that you’re engaged in your business and looking for ways to improve. Whilst customers can provide feedback through online review sites you can get more qualitative data by conducting your own satisfaction survey. This will provide valuable feedback to help you make improvements to your business and keep your business front of mind with customers. Pay particular attention to any negative comments received as these can highlight at-risk customers before they leave you and help you to make things right – or at least stop it happening again in the future.

10. Require a reason for downgrades or cancellations

In order to improve future satisfaction and prevent more customers leaving for the same reasons, it’s vital to know why a customer has cancelled or downgraded. You can make guesses as to why customers are leaving but asking them directly provides unique insight into their experience. So, make it mandatory for customers to provide a reason for downgrades or cancellations. Then use this information to improve your products or services so that it doesn’t keep happening in the future.

11. Ensure you have adequate resources to fulfil all orders

Having to turn down orders because you don’t have the resource or funds to fulfil them can cause your customers to take their business elsewhere. Likewise, taking on orders and then delivering unsatisfactory products or services because of limited resources can have the same effect. Therefore, it’s vital that you have adequate resources and access to adequate funding so that you can fulfil any new orders and still meet day-to-day commitments before getting paid.

Are you in need of a more suitable finance facility to be able to fulfil new and existing orders? As a commercial finance broker, we can introduce the most suitable funding solutions for your specific requirements. To explore your options call us on 0800 9774833 or request a call back.
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