If you’ve been in business for more than a couple of months, you’re well aware of how important retention marketing is. But just in case you’re new to entrepreneurship, consider this research on retention marketing strategies:
- Acquiring a new client can cost 5 times as much as retaining an existing one, according to Invespcro.com.
- Last year, the 2020 CallMiner Churn Index reported that American businesses lose $136.8 billion every year because of client turnover.
- Research from both Bain & Company and the Harvard Business School shows that a 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by as much as 95%.
Houston, We Have A Retention Problem
Those are not small potatoes. And you may have already taken steps in your marketing to maximize retention at your company. But if you haven’t rethought your retention marketing (and even your business model), you’re probably losing clients you could save.
Luckily, it’s not too late to make a change! Here are 3 ways to completely rethink your retention marketing strategies. It will save your team time, money, and stress.
1. Reallocate Your Resources
Don’t just talk the retention talk — walk the walk! In order to truly change your company’s ways, you need to invest in retention marketing. And that also means reallocating your resources. Here are just a few ways to do that.
- Provide additional training for your team on customer service. Forbes magazine emphasizes a few things to enhance retention. These include frequent and friendly customer communication, transparency, listening, and relationship-building.
- Create a fund for customer perks and gifts. Here at Newsletter Pro, we believe in celebrating our clients! When someone has a baby or we hear they’re going through a difficult time, we send a gift or card. These gifts cost us resources, but as Newswire reports, multiple studies show customer gifts increase retention.
- Invest in retention marketing tools. Staying in touch with your customers is the best way to keep them happy and remind them you care. Stay on top of this by doing the hard work of reaching out personally each month. But it’s easier and more efficient to invest in recurring communications like automated weekly emails and regularly printed newsletters. Our team can help with both of these things, so if you want to make them happen, let us know!
2. Make Personalization Possible
In order to retain customers, you must build quality relationships with them. This starts with knowing who they are, what they need, and how they interact with your marketing. To figure out those key points, you have to gather and interpret a lot of data, both online and off.
You can do some of this data-gathering and calculating yourself (for example, you might calculate the lifetime value or “LTV” of each client). However, hiring a third-party data analytics company will help you take your retention marketing strategies to the next level. SAS, Alteryx, Kissmetrics, and InsightSquared are great options for small-business owners.
Once you’ve gathered all the data you need, you can get personal to keep clients longer.
3. Hire (Or Create) A Retention Expert
If you truly want to maximize your retention, make it an integral part of your team’s marketing approach. As RetentionScience.com puts it, “Retention marketing is a full-time endeavor and should be treated as such. This means getting buy-in from the top down. It must be a priority for the entire business, not just your marketing department.”
Investing in specialized training for your team is one way to do this. But you can also hire a retention expert or shift team members’ roles to focus exclusively on retaining clients. Yes, hiring is expensive, but remember the research. Increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase profits by as much as 95%. That new team member will pay for themselves in no time! This is just one example of when it’s smart to play the long game in business — nurturing leads is another.
These 3 retention marketing mindset shifts will be game-changers for your company. You can start with 1 of them or dive into all 3, whatever feels right for you. It won’t be long before you see the difference in your bottom line.
P.S. Not sure where to start? We recommend investing in retention marketing tools like print and digital newsletters first. These tools will work for you in the background while you tackle your other retention upgrades. Check out our print and digital packages here (including integrated campaigns!) and let us know if we can help.
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