Often, companies view customer retention as a metric, losing sight of what’s important: their customers.
Why is it Important to Keep Current Customers?
Besides the fact that it’s more costly to gain new customers than to keep current customers, there are many other reasons why keeping new customers is essential.
1. Set Realistic Expectations
Setting realistic expectations is crucial if you’re looking to improve your customer retention rate—it can have a significant impact on your company’s ability to keep new customers.
- They don’t know how long shipping will take, and they become more frustrated every day their order doesn’t arrive.
- They knew from the start that it’d take some time, so the one-week wait aligns with their expectations, so there’s no issue at all.
2. Stand For Something
Few customers feel they have solid relationships with the companies they purchase from. A study that included 7,000 consumers from across the United States found that only 23% of customers have a relationship with a business . Interestingly, 64% of customers who said they have a relationship with a company said shared values were the basis of that relationship.
3. Deliver Value
Creating value for your customers involves delivering valuable products and services that they consider worthy of their energy, time, and money. For customers to derive value from a product or service, its perceived benefits must outweigh its cost. Thus, delivering value for customers means maximizing the benefits within a realistic price point.
4. Get to Know Them
Whether you’re a freelancer, a small business owner, or even the CEO of a multinational corporation, getting to know your customers is crucial. By knowing who your customers are, you’ll be in a better place to anticipate their needs and provide them with valuable products or services—which means they’re more likely to purchase from you in the future.
5. Meet Them Where They Are
Chad Horenfeldt notes meeting the customer where they are and not how you want to connect with them is essential for companies to succeed. To maximize customer satisfaction and ultimately improve customer retention, you must be ready to meet your customers where they’re.
6. Educate Them
The last thing you want is to leave your customers to fend for themselves after they’ve purchased your products or signed up for the services you offer. Thus, it’s critical to provide resources that make it easier for new customers to learn how to use your products.
- Offer in-product onboarding with tutorials and tips to help new customers get started.
- Send a series of lifecycle emails that can guide new customers through learning how to use the product they purchased.
- Create an online academy with extensive training resources for new customers who prefer self-service training.
- Create a community of product specialists that new and long-term customers can turn to for help.
- Offer one-on-one training sessions with sales, customer support, or onboarding teams.
7. Create Loyalty
Customer loyalty involves customers’ decisions to continue purchasing from a particular brand because they believe it offers the best products, customer experience, and price within its category. High customer loyalty will prevent new customers from abandoning a company based on simple factors like a better price or better marketing.