Why Should You Make A Customer Retention Plan?
Almost every marketer or entrepreneur is busy acquiring new customers from different sources. But have you ever thought of counting repeat customers? What is the best strategy to increase the number of repeat purchases from customers? It is always important to focus on customer retention rates. It denotes how many customers have remained loyal to your business/brand. A solid business development strategy should never overlook a customer retention plan. Thus, if you like to reach your business growth targets, you need to retain more customers.
Why is a customer retention plan important?
Customer retention refers to keeping your existing customers engaged and persuading them to continue buying services/products from them. In fact, it is easier to win your loyal customers than to acquire new ones. Moreover, these customers know your brand, and that’s why they have a high chance of making a deal with you.
You do not need to invest significantly in retaining your old customers. Still, you should continue your paid advertising, social media marketing, and other promotional strategies. Make your customer relationship stronger to increase the customer retention rate. It is highly important for organizational development.
The customer retention rate is revealed as a percentage. Therefore, you need to focus on various factors to calculate it.
- Determine the timeframe to be reviewed.
- Find the total of customers you have at the beginning of the chosen period.
- Identify how many customers you have at the end of the period.
- You can now calculate how many new customers have been added within a particular period.
A guide to increasing your customer retention rate
Launch a loyalty program
Undoubtedly one of the effortless ways to achieve a high customer retention rate is by introducing a loyalty program for existing customers. For instance, you can make it available to customers who sign up through your app or email. The main concept is to convince your customers to come back and get freebies from your company. Additionally, you may offer big discounts and coupons by allowing your customers to collect points. Also, try to be creative while considering your loyalty program.
A good example of a loyalty program is the popular Starbucks Rewards program. Whenever you buy coffee with a gift card, you earn points. Furthermore, you can win free merchandise, coffee, and food using these points. There are several ways to implement this model for your business. You can decide on the type of reward to be offered to your customers.
Offer attractive incentives for successful referrals
You can retain your existing customers by offering referral codes (a type of discount code). A customer who has already purchased your products/services can receive a code. Also, he can send the code to his family or friends. In return, he will enjoy a discount for referring your business to others. It is one of the top marketing strategies applied by successful organizations. Moreover, this strategy lets you win new customers who have not been in your marketing funnel.
Maintain a transparent pricing scheme
Pricing transparency is one of the biggest issues for several businesses. As online shopping is easier, modern consumers have become smarter. Besides, they are aware of the options available to them. They can quickly search for products and services online to compare for better deals. Therefore, you have to be careful while creating the pricing scheme. Whereas, if your potential customers or existing customers find more attractive deals elsewhere, it will lead to a loss of trust.
Shoppers always look for lucrative deals on special occasions like Cyber Monday and Black Friday. You should maintain transparency in the costs related to product design, development, and shipping. It lets you provide value to your customer base. Your customers will feel more confident and likely to buy your products/services repeatedly.
Do you know that most consumers abandon their shopping carts, as the additional costs (for shipping and taxes) are high? To avoid this problem, you have to be upfront about the costs.
Conclusion
It is good to create a customer retention plan to grow your business. However, you must not overlook the need to regain lost leads and visitors. That is why you need to start remarketing campaign at the same time. You can use the remarketing application at Movology.com and make your activities easier. Customer acquisition and customer retention programs should go side by side.