What’s more certain than uncertainty, right?
Business climates are always changing and dependent on multiple external factors like political, social, economic, and cultural. But what’s certain is how many business owners, capitalists, start-up founders, and growth strategists are extremely familiar with how important customer retention is. The fact that acquiring a new customer can cost much more than retaining an existing customer is a known fact.
According to Bain and Co., close to a 5% increase in customer retention can potentially increase a company’s profitability by 75%.
And customer retention is the key every business is required to master especially during the recent coronavirus pandemic.
Customer retention strategy during COVID 19 is specifically important for two simple reasons:
- Customer spending is reduced to a low point
- Customer interaction virtually is the only touchpoint
Customer retention is these uncertain or crisis times is a difficult wedge to drive home. Lack of experience, knowledge, and previous strategies can make the challenge more difficult than it is.
It is in these times that we must plan our customer retention strategies in a manner designed to touch base with people virtually via technology and social media.
Even Euro News, on April 4, 2020, opined that half of the global human population was in some form of lockdown or social distancing. Its important businesses look at this as an opportunity since technology makes us stay connected and has truly transformed the world into a global village.
Read on to know more about customer retention management and how you can retain customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is customer retention management?
Customer retention management is a team effort by the organisation to keep the business in a steady state of growth and prevent customer churn. According to Drew Donaldson, founder ofGrohaus noted that customer retention is a play involving: product, marketing, and sales.
These three groups need to integrate well and adapt their operations and strategies to optimize customer retention and customer engagement.
Why is customer retention important?
Retaining customers is extremely important for the long-term success of any business. SignalMind has reported that the probability of converting an existing customer is almost 65% more than acquiring a new one. Also, customers understand the product or service and are better able to reconsider spending.
Customer retention during the coronavirus pandemic is more so important as many consumers will reconsider where and how they spend their money in these testing times. Recruiting first time buys is thus a difficult task. Since most customers are going to face shifts in direction after the economy resumes in full vigor, it’s important to retain them and reduce churn.
To enable you to derive the most of your business, here are 7 Customer retention strategies to increase revenue during Covid-19
7 customer retention strategies
This economic turndown, you can stand out from the crowd and competition by keeping customers engaged and invested in your product or service with these smart customer retention strategies.
1. Connect your brand initiatives with customers
Humans like products they feel invested in and can trust. Generate that trust for your customers. Use social media to connect with your customer about the vision behind your company, any interesting facts about products, the kind of leadership appeal, smart goals, and resilience during Covid-19. This will keep them invested and build trust when they see the groundwork behind the company.
2. Concise communication
It is very important to put the right and best foot forward. Instead of bombarding your customers with generic emails, go for something interesting that will add value to their overall life. Tell them the unique features of how your company can aid them at this time. Providing value is a great way to not only remind that you are there, but it’s also important to keep goodwill in their minds about their association with you.
3. Add-ons to products and services
See how well you can stand out amongst competitors by tweaking your product to address current needs or concerns. For example: Adding essentials if your product is an online store. Assessing how you can be of assistance to the public instead of selling a product or service is what will keep them invested in you. Relevant additions that address immediate concerns can be a great help to all and will even bring in more customers.
4. Go virtual.
By this, we mean to use technology wisely. Virtual services or product walk-throughs are now becoming common. Walking clients through your products and sharing valuable information with them can be useful. Supporting them remotely is extremely important. By offering podcasts, webinars, and online tutorials you can reach your customers even in their homes to solve their needs or problems. Live video streams can be kept entertaining and informational to generate buzz over the product.
5. Social media for the win.
Social media plays an integral role today and its best to use it in a rich manner of advantage. Even right now most of your customers are scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and consuming digital content. Make your mark there with engaging content that is interactive. Respond to customer queries, answer their comments, and show your presence.
6. Incentivize them
It’s an open secret that incentivising your customers is important to keep them invested in your product or service. Measures such as gift cards, discounts, free trials, and more can help them stick. Reduce customer churn through personalisation and offer rewards for promotion. Implement customer loyalty programs that will aim at client retention and brand loyalty.
7. Audit your customers’ experience.
You must also analyse the general customer experience one has with your company and identify areas to improve. One can personally engage with customers and clients to seamlessly streamline products and services and offer a wholesome experience to customers aiming at customer retention. An individual customer journey roadmap will help customers get an idea of the product better and how they can harness your services and product to better their potential. Take feedback to note how you can improve aspects of performance or product.
Some tips to further your customer retention strategy
- Keep the immediate needs of your customers in mind and modify your offering- product or service and the associated marketing strategy aiming to reflect current situations and demands.
- When you provide customers the value they signed up for, your customer retention strategy is already in place.
- Note that customer retention strategies during Covid-19 require not only a business effort but also a humanitarian effort due to the sheer impact of the pandemic.
Bottom line: connect and reconnect
This global pandemic, if anything, has made us all have more empathy than before. Instill in your customers your promise, vision, and goals as a business and how you choose to support them during these testing times. Keep in touch, virtually. Track their performances, usage through customer usage trackers.
Remember, customer retention is much easier than customer acquisition if done right. Remind them that you’re in this together. Create tweaks in your product to address their queries and dispel their doubts.
And once the world is back to normal, you’ll have a bevy of happy customers and be ready for more.
Author Bio
Jyothi Tulasi is tech-savvy and proficient in technical SEO optimization for various SaaS products. She has profound expertise in outreach. She loves connecting with people and singing in her free time.
