The Secret of The Five Percent: A Harvard study found that a five per cent improvement in customer retention can lead to up to an 85 per cent increase in profits.
This proves that the relationship you have with your existing customers is important to your overall business.
A business with poor retention is like a bucket with a hole in it – a leaky bucket
Every day I see business owners putting in intense effort and paying increasing amounts of money to attract new clients and customers – keeping up with marketing and social media can be extremely demanding for small business owners.
The key to retaining customers is to treat your relationship with them like you would a friendship.
Keep it personal, stay in contact and remember to say thank you.
Here are some suggestions
Say thank you after each purchase.
Sending a customer a personalised and genuine ‘thank you’ email after they’ve made a purchase, or signed up for your service is a great way to show appreciation.
It also gives them a chance to provide valuable feedback on your product or service.
While you could use this space to up-sell, cross-sell or to capture data, I’m going to recommend you don’t do this.
Keep it as a Thank You so that you show the customer that you value their business, their feedback and their time.
Keep in touch.
Studies show that strong engagement between a business and its customers will result in higher overall retention and profit rates in the long term.
This means that it’s important to take advantage of your mailing list of existing customers by creating engaging, helpful and consistent content that will be of interest to them.
This doesn’t need to be onerous – it can be a monthly email or more regular. What works for you?
My favourite yoga studio sends out their newsletter every month – on the 1st of the month and I look forward to reading it. And I reckon other clients do as well.
If you keep the content relevant and regular you will experience less customers unsubscribing from your communications as time passes. Remember, truly engaging your customers contributes to higher brand recognition and likeability.
Your email list is an valuable asset for your business.
Make it personal.
We live in an era of increasing personalisation, which means it’s essential to make use of the data you have already have about your customers.
A good way to personalise your messages is to segment customers into the groups you believe will benefit from a unique offering or proposition.
Dependent on your product or service, segments could be based on anything from location, to age, gender, industry, or past purchases.
When a client or customer feels like your message has been tailored specifically to them, studies show that customers are much more likely to engage with what you have to say, which could direct them to make repeat purchases.
Don’t come on too strong.
One of the great challenges is to make customers to feel genuinely valued in today’s world.
They’re met with a never-ending barrage of marketing material each day in everything they do – from browsing online, to watching TV, checking their emails or even walking down the street.
One of the things that happens is that people tend to block out anything they deem too much of a sales push.
By maintaining a genuine relationship, sharing useful information and keeping things personal, you can help stick out above competition.
One of the ways I encourage my clients to re-engage with “lapsed” or past clients is to call them, or text or send personalised email. This is especially relevant for businesses where you have client files – their client history, their likes and preferences, the items they have purchased etc
Remember, there is a fine line between being personal and being creepy!! Best to stay on the right side of that line!
My guess is you are here because …..
My guess is that you are here because you are a business owner and what you really want – is to build and grow a successful business – whatever that means to you.
We know that business owners want to feel more confident when it comes to the money side of business.
In just 2 minutes you can take your free personalised Business Financial Health Check to increase your financial safety in business. Are you ready to discover your score?
Having a successful business means making business decisions with reliable information – facts & data as well as your “gut feel.”
… ultimately you want to do what you do best AND have a successful business AND make a difference.
I’m here to help you.
There are 2 ways you can access all my best material:
I regularly run webinars on a range of money related topics:
- Managing Cash Flow so you never run out of money
- Understanding where your money goes – getting those expenses sorted out
- Understanding the Profit First book
- Pricing – getting it right for your studio
- The things you need to know before signing a commercial lease
- How to make more money
- … and many other topics
If you’d like the replay of any of these recent webinars, please email me ingrid@healthynumbers.com.au and put “Replay” in the subject and let me know which one you’d like to watch. I’ll send you the link to the replay
AND
Read my book! It is a Business 101 and can answer pretty much all your business questions.
This book is designed to help you build your business – whether you are starting from scratch and creating something new or you have been in business for a couple of years and want to build from your foundations.
The book is your step by step guide to building a business smarter and faster.
“So You Want to Start a Business”
Order your copy now from Booktopia, Amazon or Book Depository
It’s so exciting to be sharing it with you.
If you prefer the kindle Head straight to Amazon
Happy reading!
What is your biggest question right now? Let me know – send me an email ingrid@healthynumbers.com.au
I answer all my own emails