Four Tips to Improve Customer Retention

After getting new customers, many business owners assume they’ll stick around — but why should they? That’s the question a great retention strategy will help answer for you. More than 70% of customers will leave a business due to unsatisfactory customer service. A big part of customer service is regular communication with customers. What can you do to level up your business and provide something truly exemplary for consumers? Here are a few ideas.

Encourage interaction. Keep in touch with your customers with promotions, rewards, programs, product updates and much more. You should also consider providing valuable content, whether it’s related to industry or community service. With all these types of content, ensure current customers have a way to interact with your business, whether it’s liking a social media post or creating a referral program. Encourage interaction and leave no promotion material without a way to track ROI.

Leverage social media to fit your brand voice. To build a social media following, create an authentic brand voice that entertains, informs or provides value for people. Having a following online will allow you to confront negative perceptions of your business with friendly customer service as well as monitor customer opinions, interests and motivations. Not to mention it’s an easy way to reach a huge audience. Americans spend more than two hours every day on social media, according to Statista. Make sure your virtual business storefront is available for them to find.

Utilize customer feedback. Customers that give your business feedback, whether it’s positive or negative, provide a great opportunity to make changes or reinforce processes at your company. It can be easy to brush off feedback because it can be time consuming, but the time and effort can reap big rewards, especially when you follow up to let the customer know that you’ve heard and value their feedback. This communication shows that you take their opinion seriously and lays the groundwork for a repeat customer.

Create a personalized print newsletter. Not only does direct mail marketing stand out in our digital world, but it also provides highly personalized marketing tailored to your business, industry and demographic. This small piece can play a big role in creating a stronger relationship with your customers. Not only do they have a longer shelf life than an email that can be deleted without a second look, they also are more likely to be read because they have less competition.

Customers are one of the most important aspects of a business. Take the time to ensure that you’re putting in the work to retain them.

Wayne Goshkarian is the director of communications for Scottsdale-based Association for Entrepreneurship USA, where he assists entrepreneurs nationwide with creating, establishing and expanding their businesses. In addition to AFEUSA, Goshkarian is the forward-thinking founder of Dylan Consulting and is known for bringing the slow changing insurance industry cutting-edge technology.