The Secret to Customer Retention: Exceptional Customer Service

Research shows that acquiring new customers can cost five times more than retaining current customers. Yet, many organizations are spending their money and time seeking out new customers instead of building relationships with current customers. Learn just how powerful retaining current customers can be and uncover five effective customer retention strategies to help your organization build a profitable and loyal customer base. 
 



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While retaining customers can be a difficult task, it can have big payouts long-term. In fact, an estimated 80 percent of future profits will come from 20 percent of your existing customers. But, in order for companies to realize these long-term profits, they need to make customer retention a top priority.

According to the infographic by Kapow Events, poor customer service is the main culprit of weak customer retention. The infographic shows that as much as 68 percent of customers who pull away from organizations do so as a result of poor customer service. This means that companies need to start thinking about reshaping their customer retention strategies around the customer experience in order to build strong customer relationships and ensure long-term revenue growth.

A recent article from Business 2 Community shares five customer retention strategies that can help your organization refocus its customer retention strategy around the customer experience.
 

1. Build a fanatical customer service. We are all customers, and we appreciate the little things that companies do to make us happy. Concentrate your resources on building out a plan that makes customers feel appreciated, whether it be returning dropped calls or sending out thank you notes. While it may cost money up front, spending money now to reduce costs later is a good approach to take. According to the infographic, a 2 percent increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10 percent.
2. Create a loyalty program. Loyalty programs are simple and effective ways to keep customers engaged and spending. When coming up with a program plan, study your customer demographics and make sure that you are appealing to your customer base. Also, make sure that you don’t leave anyone out. All customers, no matter what their tenure, are valuable.
3. Get personal. While selling is important, building a company is just as much about building relationships with your customers. Lean on your sales staff to strengthen these relationships so that your customers feel a personal connection to your brand. This personal connection may make your customers hesitant to take their business elsewhere.
4. Reach out to your customers for solutions. Creating a stream of two-way communication will show your customers that you see them as humans, rather than as transactions. Then, if you use one of your customers’ ideas, give them credit. This will show all your other loyal customers just how much you cherish your customers as individuals.
5. Serve your staff well. Your staff is the first to answer any and all questions streaming in from your customers. Building strong relationships with your staff will translate into the relationships they are in turn building with your customers.

While focusing on customer retention may seem like a daunting task, it pays off long-term. By integrating superior customer service into your organization’s strategy, you will be able to effectively build a loyal and profitable customer base into the future.


This infographic was created by Kapow Events, and this article summarizes some of its contents. The original infographic is here.