Most new businesses find themselves all too obsessed with lead generation and acquiring new customers. Of course, getting the word out and finding new customers is important to organic growth, but keeping them as customers is the key factor in generating an additional profit and growing your brand.

While businesses may find themselves in a tight spot during this pandemic, this is no reason to not target growth, and now even more so than ever, customer retention becomes the strongest way to generate market interest. A large part (if not most) of your customer base is now stuck at home to protect themselves from COVID-19, meaning they are more likely to stick to products and services they already know from before the crisis, or perhaps are even more likely to listen to recommendations from their friends, who are perhaps your current customers.

Customer retention will, in the long run, allow the company to remain growing organically both through recommendations and upsell opportunities with one key advantage: it’s always cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one.

Here are six customer retention strategies to get you started:

Customer Education. It’s important for customers to be familiar with your products and services. It’s equally important that your customers know what to do to make the most of what they just purchased. This can be done by creating guides for your service or having company representatives personally train customers according to their needs. Not only will this allow customers to benefit more from your product, but it also reinforces customer trust post-sale, thus creating a better opportunity for upselling in the future.

Customer Service. Having customer support available pre-sale and post-sale is key to resolving issues before they come up. Prepare multiple channels where customers can reach you, whether through social media, email, landline or by live chat. Often these customers who are trying to reach you are those who really care about your product, and resolving their frustrations can lead to a lifetime customer – and possibly free marketing in the form of that customer’s recommendations to her network!

Customer Feedback. This is not only a great market and product research tool, but it’s also one of the best ways to retain customers. Customer feedback is a direct address to the company regarding what needs improving as well as what you’ve been doing right. You can passively receive feedback by having social media pages in which customers can comment, or actively collect them through surveys. Email surveys are a cheap way to keep customers engaged, but in-app surveys for businesses in the software field are another engaging way to get feedback. But it’s not enough to just listen to your customers; it’s also important to respond to this customer feedback in the form of product and logistics improvements. A patron who knows his feedback has been taken and used to improve services will most likely remain a patron.

Communication. Keep customers informed of whatever promotions or new products you have regularly. Social media is great for both reaching out to your customers, and your customers reaching out to you, and it costs almost nothing given the wide reach it has.

Bonus tip: Besides having an engaging social media presence, don’t forget to use email. Email newsletter campaigns remain the most effective way to reach new customers as well as re-engage old customers. Automated email software makes this an even easier low-risk, high-reward practice.

Loyalty Programmes. Reward customer loyalty by offering discounts or freebies to regular customers. Coffee shops often use stamp cards that customers can fill by ordering drinks, offering a free cup on their tenth cup. This is a simple rewarding way to keep customers coming. Make sure that customers are always informed of any promotions you’re running to keep them engaged as repeat customers.

Personalised Surprises. Personalised surprises go a long way when reaching out to customers. Whether it’s a simple birthday greeting or a personalised discount for the customer’s birthday month, it will let the customer know that you care. Handwritten thank-you cards for every purchase shows to the customer that you spent some amount of time for them. Creating these personal relationships with your customers also greatly build your brand.

These are just 6 customer retention strategies that you can use to grow your business. Applying these strategies will help you keep your customers and strengthen your brand. A byproduct of these customer retention strategies is that your business is now easier to refer to your customers’ social network. Great customer service, clear lines of communication, a genuine openness to customer feedback and loyalty perks are, after all, great selling points for your company.

We understand that every business is unique, so for personalized help in growing your business reach out to us here at PINC 360. Digital Marketing is the economic cornerstone of the new normal, and PINC 360 is equipped with the industry expertise to help you tell your story, reach your audience, and bring in more customers.