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Customer Retention: Definition, Metrics and 8 Strategies

Additionally, leverage positive feedback to generate social proof to attract new customers. For example, you can feature glowing product reviews on your website or share them in an email. A great example is the REI Co-op Membership program, which offers customers cash back on all purchases, free shipping for online orders, exclusive coupons, and first access to new collections.

Research shows that loyal customers are 23% more likely to spend with you than the average customer. For example, you can invite existing customers to refer a friend and sweeten the deal by offering a cash credit for both parties, like Instacart does in the example below. Instacart offers a shortcut for the user to share the referral via text, so they can refer their friends by pressing a button.

Engage in Customer Loyalty Programs

Leads that have a short sales cycle, a high conversion rate AND are basically free. Net Promoter Score to measure how likely a customer is to recommend your business to others. Try to respond to the complaints, fix the problem, and show the customer how much you care about their experience. Here’s how Hootsuite leveraged Qualaroo surveys to improve their landing page. But it’s also important to do it in a way that doesn’t make it seem like you’re just trying to get them to go away. In the same way, hassle-free returns and exchanges are essential aspects of an effortless post-purchase experience.

The best time to ask for feedback from customers is right after a customer service conversation. Collecting feedback becomes effective when you analyze and act upon it. An effective loyalty program helps you to identify your brand ambassadors who have turned out to be your loyalists and spreading the word of mouth virality. By delighting your customers with special offers and rewards, you make them feel good about purchasing and motivate them to keep coming back. REVE Chat is a popular platform that offers a suite of customer engagement platforms essential for delivering quick responses.

Must-Have Marketing Channels to Try Now (+Tips to Make Them Work for Your Business)

Buffer refers to their premium customers as “awesome” members and even named their upgraded payment plan the “Awesome Plan.” To get ecommerce customers on board with the idea of a subscription, consider offering something special and exclusive or a product that they’ll constantly use and replenish. At Help Scout, we use our integration with Slack to access real-time notifications https://xcritical.com/ of what’s happening on the customer end. We were able to improve our response time by 340% (not a typo!) by creating a support channel for all of our teammates. When it comes to ecommerce, delivery and returns are two of the biggest consumer concerns. The way you manage last mile delivery can help you stand out from the competition and retain customers.

However, if your business falls short of customer expectations, you risk losing those customers before you even have a chance to make things right. One effective step to measure and improve customer satisfaction and retention rates is to keep communication open with your customer base. This will, in turn, help build a stronger relationship with them to measure customer retention. Additionally, you can track metrics such as customer churn rate, repeat purchase rate and customer lifetime value.

Use subscriptions to bolster the experience.

Selling personalized gift boxes requires a lot of communication with customers. That’s why Care Package Depot’s owner, Kelly, personally serves customers via live chat. It integrates with her CRM, so she has information to provide the best possible customer experience. Retargeting marketing campaigns remind customers about products they viewed or left in a shopping cart. It’s a personalized strategy to encourage conversions that also works great for customer retention.

In fact, according to Evergage, 99% of marketers say personalization helps advance customer relationships, with 78% claiming it has a “strong” or “extremely strong” impact. Studies show that efforts to retain customers are more profitable and less expensive than when companies solely focus on bringing in new customers. It is no surprise that the “buy now, pay later” model has exploded in popularity in recent years. After all, a 2018 survey found that 76% of consumers are more likely to shop where payment plans are available. For example, Delta customers who pay off airline tickets through Affirm or retail shoppers making purchases through Klarna or Afterpay. If customers know that they can count on you to treat them fairly beyond the sale, rather than disregarding them after receiving their money, they will trust you with future purchases.

What are the top 3 keys to customer retention?

You have to measure your customer retention metrics on a regular basis to understand the retention techniques that are performing well and those need to be modified. It helps to build trust and loyalty towards your brand as they find integrity between the information and practice. Putting genuine efforts to deliver good experiences to customers pays back well.

Follow up with them on a phone call or with a personalized email to understand how you can make their experience better. Clothing and shoe eCommerce site Zappos is well-known for its excellent customer service — including its efforts to show customers how much they care by saying thank you and sending gifts. To the point above, taking the time to say thank you to your customers — outside of an email campaign or a customer purchase — goes a long way toward building a brand that’s lovable and memorable. Part of knowing and understanding your customers is knowing where they spend their days using your product, and how they most want to get customer support when needed. Customers will be more inclined to repeat purchases from your business if they get special treatment over one-time buyers.

Future customer acquisition advantage

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• That’s why Care Package Depot’s owner, Kelly, personally serves customers via live chat.
• Tactics can include creating co-branded content, content produced by your business and a non-competitor, or creating a paid ad campaign.
• There are several types of customer retention programs you can start for your business.
• R&G focuses heavily on asking the right questions in order to gain insights it can execute on.
• You as a business can supplement such positive feelings through community management, or by creating a user community that benefits your customers.
• If you consider Uber, you can see how worldwide this service has become popular, and its rewards & referral programs.

If you offer your customers value without any cloaked agendas after they’ve made a purchase, it’ll go a long way to improve customer loyalty and retention. Leading CRM software has features such as lead scoring and analytics, empowering you to make better decisions that will increase conversion and customer lifetime value. customer retention Additionally, having all this information in one place improves customer service, which in turn helps convert more one-time buyers into repeat customers. Customer retention rates vary widely by industry, and it’s important for businesses to understand what’s normal in their industry as they evaluate their own rate.