Today’s consumers have the pick of the litter when it comes to where they give their business.  Especially now, when most retail businesses have gone online (if they weren’t there before!) in order to survive.

This leads to the million dollar question: how do you keep people coming back to you rather than defecting to a competitor? Customer retention is arguably the most important thing for a company’s growth. It costs 7 times more to acquire one new customer than it does to retain one. Many times, businesses are so focused on gaining new customers that they fail to cater to the customers they already have. Here’s how to change that:

Get customer feedback: When it comes to customer retention, go straight to the source to find out what people like and dislike about your business. Take it one step further, and research your competition to find out why customers may choose them over you.

Offer loyalty incentives: Keeping customers engaged and rewarding them for continuing to choose you are important factors in customer retention. Incentives often keep people coming back for more. Think Starbucks!

Ask for referrals: As the saying goes, sharing is caring. Although customers are often willing to share the products and services they love, sometimes they need a gentle nudge or reminder. Similar to loyalty incentives, referral incentives are a great way to expand your audience. People always prefer to do business with vetted brands.

Communicate, communicate, communicate: It’s always beneficial to follow up with your customers, not just about their general feedback, but also about how each interaction with your business goes. Start your customer relationships on the right track with a purchase follow-up email and be sure to stay in touch with your customers regularly. Consider a different approach for those you haven’t seen in awhile by reminding them about you and extending a more aggressive offer through a win-back automation. Try upselling your existing customers on new and exciting products.

By targeting your existing customers and creating a loyal relationship, not only will your bottom line increase, but inevitably, so will your customer base. You’ll save both time and money by focusing your efforts on customer retention, so there’s not as much of a need to search far and wide for new customers.

ahoy! is here to help you leverage your existing customer base to drive more sales. Sign up for a free trial here.