9 techniques to retain customers and increase your sales

Are you wondering what " customer retention" is and how it can benefit you?

Based on the customer relationship, the retention and subsequent loyalty of buyers is the most profitable commercial strategy for your company.

Do you want to know why and how to retain your customers? Read on, then, we have the answer! ✅

See all software Sales & Customer Management

What does customer retention mean?

Customer retention means

Customer retention is a marketing and sales strategy. It consists of trying to retain people who have purchased a product or service from the company. It also aims to increase the purchase frequency of buyers based on a value proposition that converts them into loyal customers.

What is the objective of customer retention? To increase the customer lifecycle.

☝️ To achieve customer retention, and therefore customer satisfaction, two factors are necessary:

1. A good customer service (or an amazing customer experience ).
2. A quality solution.

There is a 60% to 70% chance that a satisfied customer will buy from you again. In contrast, you have less than a 20% chance of selling to a customer who does not know you.

Invesp Consulting

Importance of customer retention

Have you ever wondered how much it costs to retain a customer? Of course, it costs a lot less than acquiring new customers.

Moreover, the return on investment is much more attractive. According to Moneder, for a 5% investment in retention, you can make up to 95% profit.

Hence the importance of investing in a retention strategy and not only in acquisition.

A new customer is 7 times more expensive than building customer loyalty.

Moneder

Difference between keeping and retaining customers

Keeping or retaining customers is not the same as retaining them. Although both concepts focus on retaining a customer:

• Retaining existing customers is the first objective after the purchase (repeat purchase).
• Once you have succeeded in retaining them, the next objective is to build loyalty (to keep them trusting you over the years).

Customer retention and customer recovery are not the same thing either. Recapture means trying to win back a potential customer who:

• Has at some point purchased (perhaps more than once),
• but has been dormant for some time and therefore not generating revenue.

How do you retain a customer?

We're not going to say that customer retention is an easy task, but you do have a lot going for you. That's because you can influence customer satisfaction through a customer retention strategy and a loyalty strategy that puts the customer at the centre of your actions.

Ask yourself: what are their wants and needs? The idea is to create a satisfying customer experience, and to do that, you need to get to know them.

🎯 Let's look at some techniques to retain customers and increase customer loyalty. Don't just stick to one, combine them and play with them to increase engagement with your audience.

1. Know the customer journey

The customer journey is the key to a customer-centric strategy.

The customer goes through different phases from the moment they meet you until they become an ambassador of your brand (if they are very satisfied):

1. Awareness phase.
2. Consideration phase.
3. Decision phase.
4. Loyalty phase.
5. Recommendation phase.

You must know how the customer behaves in each of the phases in order to approach them correctly. The way you interact with the consumer in each of them is important to get a positive response at the end of the journey.

👉 Remember, your attitude influences their satisfaction. So: even if they haven't bought, you need to focus on the customer if you want to build customer loyalty!

2. Add value

It is not enough to interact with the customer, your actions must provide value and create a good customer experience. This is the only way to make a difference in the face of so much competition!

🎯 The goal is to become unique, so that the customer finds something in you that they can't find in anyone else.

👉 Beyond your product or service, focus on creating a community:

• That unites your customers with your brand,
• through which you can spread your strategy and offer information.

To achieve this, you can focus on creating quality content for your followers. Be careful, this content must be related to your sector of activity or company.

But always keep in mind that the customer expects to find a profit in your company. Therefore, tell them about the benefit they get from your product or service, not about its features. Tell them why they need it.

95% of customers expect companies to communicate proactively, not reactively.

Lealtad360

3. Opt for multi-channel communication

Good communication is not effective if it is not transmitted through the right channels:

• Social media
• website,
• email,
• telephone, etc.

🎯 Opt for a constant multichannel communication adapted to the different market niches.

👉 Pay special attention to social networks. They are a fast, direct and effective means of communication that helps to build relationships with customers. They will always carry you in their pocket!

When we talk about communicating, we also mean the image your brand conveys, not just the actions you can plan. So take care of your brand image and try to make it represent your corporate philosophy and values in all your channels.

4. Opt for personalisation

It is also clear that, for the customer to feel identified with your brand, you must speak directly to them. In other words, they should feel that they are talking to a friend who knows them perfectly, remembers their birthday and makes them feel unique. And you care about him!

81% of consumers make purchase decisions based on how much they trust the brand.

Edelman

👉 In that sense, personalise both your messages and your offers. Not all customers are the same!

🎯 Create customer segments or subgroups based on their personal characteristics and consumption habits. And then plan actions tailored to each audience.

☝️ It is important to detect those groups that bring you the most business volume and focus on them. Studies show that it is usually a small portion of your customers who generate the most profit.

Increasing customer retention by 5% results in a minimum 25% increase in revenue.

Bain & Company

5. Boost your customer service

Customer service is key to customer loyalty. Whether before or after the purchase, the consumer needs to feel accompanied both for:

• Choosing the right product,
• solving problems, if they arise.

The best way to ensure good customer service is through CRM ( Customer Relationship Management) software. This loyalty tool is designed to manage customer relations through all the company's channels. Among other things, it centralises exchanges and makes interaction easier. In addition, it records all contacts, making it easy to access their enquiry history and track requests or problems.

93% of customers are likely to buy again from companies with excellent customer service.

HubSpot

6. Involve the customer

The customer has a lot to say. After all, your solution must meet their needs and wants. So you need to talk to them to find out what they want and make them feel part of the solution.

🎯 Drive actions to get to know your buyer persona better:

• Marketing campaigns (email marketing, for example),
• surveys,
• market research, etc.

👉 But also listen to them indirectly. Analyse how they behave on social networks, for example.

7. Reward loyalty

Another way to extend customer loyalty is precisely by rewarding their loyalty.

💎 If you have recurring customers, convinced of the value of your product or service, don't let them escape, they are a treasure!

🎯 In this case, the best way to show them that you care about them and, of course, to satisfy them, is to show them preferential treatment through loyalty programmes:

• Send them a small gift for their birthday,
• offer them exclusive discounts,
• invite them to unique events,
• entice them with a private sale for them.

There are many ways to thank them for their purchase and their loyalty!

Repeat customers spend on average 33% more per order than other customers.

Bain & Company

8. Maintain quality

It seems obvious but it is worth remembering. A good customer experience depends, above all, on a quality product or service.

You can focus your experience on the customer and be very nice; but if in the end your solution does not meet the customer's expectations, unfortunately, they are going to abandon you for another one that does.

So, work on an experience that includes a good product and a surprising and satisfying adventure.

9. Be honest

Last but not least, be honest with your audience. Don't try to deceive them and be transparent in all your actions. It is key for them to trust you.

👉 Show them that you will not cheat them in your favour, that your aim is to satisfy them.

🎯 If you make a mistake, apologise. Everyone can make wrong decisions, the crux of the matter is how you handle mistakes. Acknowledging them is a sign of honesty, regret and a thirst for improvement. It does not damage your image but rather reinforces it.

37% of consumers would like companies to apologise when service does not meet expectations.

CallMiner

See all software Sales & Customer Management

Customer Retention Rate

If you are interested in retaining customers, you will also be interested in knowing the Customer Retention Rate that your strategies achieve. You can find this out through a simple calculation.

☝️ This KPI ( Key Performance Indicator) shows customer loyalty (and satisfaction). It is also important to know whether your strategy is working or not.

How to calculate the customer retention rate?

The retention rate is calculated taking into account a specific period of time. It is up to you to choose the periodicity, which can be monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, etc.

Once you have chosen the periodicity, all you have to do is make a simple calculation.

Let's look at the formula for the customer retention rate:

💡 In contrast, there is the churn rate, a percentage that measures the loss of customers. This is also based on a certain period of time.

🎯 Although the calculation itself is not too complicated, there are customer management tools that can perform the calculation automatically through the data entered on a daily basis. So forget about wasting time on small tasks and focus on creating and optimising your strategies. You will be able to see the evolution of the rate and will always have it up to date!

How to interpret the Customer Retention Rate?

As we have seen, the Customer Retention Rate shows the customer retention capacity of a brand or company.

Roughly speaking, there are two possible results:

• A high rate: it means that your customers are loyal and tend to repeat purchases.
• A low rate: means that your customers are not loyal and, therefore, are not likely to buy from you again.

In that sense, the higher your rate, the better.

How to increase your customer retention rate?

Improving customer retention is possible if you put into practice the 9 techniques we present in this article.

🎯 A pply them throughout the customer journey. A good strategy starts before the first contact and ends after the purchase.

💙 As in any relationship, the key to success is that your customers are satisfied, content and happy to have you by their side. Do you think yours are?