1,732 Views
It is tough out there in today’s cut-throat business arena and when you do manage to secure a customer, you want to do what you can to retain their business. Pointless spending a fortune on marketing if your service/product sucks; customer retention is the foundation of business growth and in this short article, we offer a few cost-effective ways to engage with your existing customers.
- Season greetings – Take a look at any successful big business and you’ll see corporate Christmas cards as one way to maintain that connection. Choose a quality card with the right message, which should be hand-written to show personalisation. Make your card stand out with a perfectly crafted message that demonstrates your appreciation of their continued custom. There are online suppliers of greeting cards with some amazing designs and cards; you can bulk buy the ones you like.
- Surveys – Surveys are a great way to reconnect with customers, as they offer a chance for the customer to comment, and feedback is important. Connection and evaluation are the two goals here. The best way to find out how your customers feel about your service is to ask them and emailing a short survey is the best way to do just that.
- Promotional gifts – There are Australian suppliers of the best promotional gifts; umbrellas, keyrings, smartphone cases, T-shirts, personal organisers, fountain pens and many other great items. Functionality is the main focus, along with quality and, of course, your brand.
- Loyalty points – Create a system whereby regular purchasers amass points that are linked with gift cards; regular customers can collect enough points to acquire a decent promotional gift. There are Australian gift card companies that are connected to many brand names and affiliating with them is relatively easy via the web. Click here for tips on how to improve employee retention within an organisation.
- Create a ‘customer first’ theme – Take a look at any successful business and you will quickly find out that they are customer-focused; putting the customer experience before anything else is a good long-term strategy for customer retention. When you hold staff meetings, always mention customer retention so that employees understand its importance.
- Personal contact – Nothing beats personal contact when it comes to deepening the customer relationship; of course, you are not going to be able to meet all your customers face to face, but whenever you can, do engage with customers. Zoom calls are one way of culturing personal contact and if your customers know that you are always at the end of a phone, this is a comforting aspect.
- Seasonal discounts – Many businesses use festivals and holidays to introduce a slight discount; florists focus on Valentine’s Day, for example, while all businesses use Xmas and New Year as a good reason to drop prices.
There are strategies that you can implement to help with customer retention; engaging with a top-rated PR & marketing agency brings with it many benefits.