Customer retention is the key to build relationships with meaning beyond the business transaction. In any business, the customer is the king/queen and is attributed to be the biggest asset for a thriving business. Brands become so invested in applying marketing tactics for lead generation that customer retention often ends up taking a back seat in their plans. The marketing strategies that these brands employ are common across the entire customer base. However, in a country as diverse as India, where customer behaviour changes every now and then, this one-size-fits-all approach is not the right way to look at content.
The holy grail of one-to-one marketing allows brands to personalise their products, thereby, catering to the needs and preferences of specific target groups. Close to 44% of companies have a greater focus on customer acquisition when only about 18% companies focus on retention. However, customer engagement marketing is not just about customer acquisition, but also about retaining loyal customers. It is a way to keep customers interested in your brand even when they are not looking to buy something.
It costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. So, before diving into customer retention, it is essential to understand why do customers drop out in the first place. To comprehend the dip in customer retention rates, you can take the following steps:
Analyse customer feedback to improve customer satisfaction
Conduct surveys as a performance indicator and address the misses to improve your customer loyalty program
Conduct a survey that measures your Net Promoter Score. This will let you know how likely will customers recommend your brand.
A customer’s journey is no longer purely transactional. Although boosting sales, conversions and generating revenue is an integral part and a primary aim of any business, the target should not be to campaign with the sole intention of encouraging a sale. Engage customers so that they hold the brand in high esteem, which will inevitably bring them to purchase products or stay invested and interested in the brand.
In the words of Steve Jobs, “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves.” Personalisation, plugging in insightful content, and story-telling - these are the aspects that keep the customers interested.
Some factors that grab customers’ attention are as follows:
Curate a captivating creative copy, including topical posts or expressing a cause that the audience cares about that, touches a chord in them
Create attractive visuals that provide an immersive and interactive experience.
According to a Prezi Report, 41% of the audience believe that a stimulating story with intriguing dialogue keeps them hooked to the brand.
Speed, personalisation, easy navigation, and seamless checkout that brings marketers closer to real-time marketing.
Obtain customer feedback to analyse their mindset and deliver accordingly.
Initiate a loyalty reward program where you maximise the profitability of each existing customer.
Reduce response time for customer queries through live chats, calls, and customer service portals.
Take a look at some of the brands that have set a precedence in retaining customers and how.
Netflix:
The entertainment streaming giant, Netflix, uses AI marketing, machine learning, and customer interaction data through polls on social media. The brand provides a curated list of movies or series, which is tailored according to the viewers’ preferences and based on what they are watching currently. Netflix’s search algorithm leverages individual browsing or streaming histories to recommend related content. This level of customisation further increases subscriptions and referrals.
Canva:
The graphic design industry is rife with established brands such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. However, Canva has carved a niche for itself. By providing easy-to-use design tools to non-designers, you can whip up attractive visuals with ready-to-use templates, images, icons, elements, animations, and fonts. Thus, instead of competing with Adobe Creative Suite, Canva has made its presence felt.
Amazon and Amazon Prime:
A brand in itself, Amazon is a brilliant example of how customer retention is actually done. 35% of Amazon’s revenue comes from its recommendation engine using customer insights and buyer data. The brand personalises products, further increasing their average order value. Amazon Prime’s attention on customers has led to a 26% increase in its sales revenue in the first quarter of 2020.
These brands have set an outstanding benchmark for other brands to follow. For your company to flourish, the primary mantra is to move from a conversion-specific point of view and broaden the horizon of customer satisfaction. Obtaining new business is a lot harder than retaining existing ones. So, once you earn a customer’s trust and loyalty, your brand is set to succeed in the long term.