If you are a serious business in 2016, you have already or are currently plotting and planning creative customer retention strategies to implement this new year. Sitting with top and middle management, the sales and marketing teams, account managers and other key stakeholders are important parties in this planning process. While we at Sproxil have already made plans for our 2016 strategy, it is not too late to start yours. Gather your team together and start having conversations around the vision, strategies and tactics you will need to execute this project. What are your business goals? How do you plan to implement them? What media will you use?
Before you start planning for the new year, take a step back with some of these tactics:
- Conduct an honest and comprehensive review of your customers’ satisfaction by deploying surveyings and having one-on-one interviews. If there are review sites for your product(s), look at those too
- Begin strategizing ways that you can improve your customers’ satisfaction. What do they want more of? Less of?
- Evaluate previous strategies (if any) and determine what worked and what did not
- Look to industry leaders, competitors, and online resources to learn about new tactics that could work for your product
- Learn why previous customers have migrated to your competitor
Customer Retention Strategies to Employ
1 Set your customer’s expectations
Before you get into the details of planning, set realistic expectations of what you expect from customers and what you would be willing to offer them. Create buckets for each of your customer demographics. Take your budget into account, take the pain points into consideration and strategies that worked previously. Be ready to under promise and over deliver to them. This way, you’re not scrambling to put together products and features that your promised but had not yet created. Honesty to yourself is key.
2 Recover the lost flock
Develop creative strategies to bring back customers you may have lost in the past. Based on your initial review of why you lost your customers in the first place, tap into the consumer insights gathered and reform your strategy. Offer a competitive price, run aSproxil Champion campaign, follow up with them and address concerns they may have. Perhaps a discount will lure them back in or proof that your product has improved since they left. While there may be a chance to get them back, consider the value of the customer. Is it worth the time and effort for your to bring them back? If it is, starting courting again! If not, cut your losses and concentrate on the valuable customers you want back.
3 Choose the right platform
Depending on the country you live in, you have probably already identified the most effective platforms to reach your customers. In some countries, radio works best, in others, the store front is the most appropriate platform, and yet for others, online is the best route. Whatever the case may be, identify the appropriate platform(s) and develop a creative campaign to target them there. Perhaps a multi-platform promotion via web and mobile work best.
4 Treasure the complainers
Customers that are not satisfied with a product or service and have disconnected from the brand are more likely to walk away. However, customers who come back to complain may offer you important insights and an opportunity to win them back. Consider their Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) when determining how much effort and discount you would be willing to give in order to keep the customer. When the customer’s problem has been solved, take into serious account all of their complaints: both what was said an left unsaid. Some things will be glaringly obvious in their complaints but the unsaid things can be real gold. Insights from unhappy customers can help improve current processes and help you retain future customers. Remember: choose your battles carefully; not all customers can offer productive feedback. You will need to know when it is no longer profitable for you to retain a customer.
5 Measure
All your customer retention strategies are useless if you do not measure the before and after. What numbers are important to you? Set metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help you determine how well you are doing. Once you set what KPIs are important to you, calculate your baseline. What kind of improvement needs to be made to help you meet your KPI? What kind of promotions can be utilized? What do you do for at-risk customers who are considering switching to a competitor? With a service like the Sproxil Champion Promo Campaign, not only can you increase engagement to better meet your KPIs, you can use the data from the campaign to make smarter, more targeted campaigns in the future.
Now that we have armed you with some helpful starting points:
- Have you sat with your team to discuss customer retention strategies?
- What worked for you previously? What didn’t?
- Are you ready to take the 2016 bull by the horns??
If you would like to discuss the implementation of the Sproxil Champion into your program, please send an email to [email protected] citing this blog post and we will work with you to create unique campaigns that fit your customer base and market.
