It’s one thing to create and execute a marketing strategy that attracts customers to your brand, but it’s another thing entirely to make sure those customers keep returning. Professional marketers often refer to this as customer retention and will measure their customer retention rate to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. Customer retention is important for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it can positively influence business sales as well as marketing ROI. However, the most important reason is that marketing to someone who’s already purchased from you before is significantly easier – and also more affordable – than promoting your brand to someone who has no idea who you are.
Many businesses go wrong by spending the majority of their marketing budget on strategies aimed at attracting new customers and, in the process, neglecting the customers they already have. Another reason the customer retention rate is critical to marketing success is that customers who have already bought from you, especially those who have had a positive experience, act as your brand advocates and help new customers feel confident choosing your brand when they’re considering other competitors. The most effective marketing strategies combine those aimed at expanding the customer base with those that nurture existing customers.
If you’re looking for the most updated marketing advice, here are 4 marketing tactics that keep customers coming back. Continue reading to help your business grow today.
Loyalty Programmes and Incentives
An effective way to encourage customers to repurchase or work with your business again is to introduce a loyalty programme or offer regular customer incentives. Loyalty programmes are created to reward customers who consistently show loyalty to a brand. This is common in businesses like cafes and coffee shops, which offer customers a free drink after a certain number of visits. Loyalty programmes are successful when businesses offer rewards that customers genuinely care about receiving – typically, this will be where discounts are applied, where items are given away for free.
An incentive, on the other hand, can be a one-off or short-term offer given to customers to encourage them to take a specific action with the business. This is common in fashion retailers who offer temporary sales and discounts that customers can apply when they make their next purchase. Most incentive and loyalty programmes are advertised digitally to customers through social media, email and SMS marketing.
Build a Community of Customers
Nowadays, consumers don’t always buy from a business solely because of the products and services they offer. Customers value being a part of a brand’s community and interacting with their founders and teams. When customers feel included by brands, they establish a much deeper emotional connection with the business, beyond a typical transactional relationship. This emotional connection fosters customer retention because consumers buy from brands they trust.
The most effective way to use marketing to build a community of customers is to host online and in-person events for existing customers, where they take part in interactive workshops or get exclusive access to new product launches. Building a community of customers boosts customer loyalty because it gives customers a reason to constantly engage with your brand, ensuring you’re always at the front of their mind. This avoids them having to search for other brands elsewhere.
An example of a brand that priorities building a community of customers within its marketing strategy is REFY Beauty. The brand and its team regularly host pop-up events in different locations across the country, where they encourage customers to come and meet their team, try out their latest lip glosses and cream bronzer products, and engage with other customers who also love the brand.
Encourage Feedback
Not every customer who tries your products or services is going to love them. However, it doesn’t mean that these customers should be forgotten about when it comes to deciding if they’re likely to return or not. Brands that make it easy for customers to give them feedback, or alternatively instantly put them in touch with a member of their team, see significantly higher customer retention rates compared to businesses that don’t.
Feedback proves to customers that your business can acknowledge the mistakes and flaws of their operations and look to improve. Feedback and communication loops are also beneficial to any customers who have an opinion or insight on your business and how it operates – even if it’s positive. In many instances, businesses can learn more about their audience’s problems and suggestions through this feedback and adapt their products or services to better suit their needs. It might be the case that a customer raises an issue that business owners and teams weren’t actually aware of, and without that feedback, they may have never known where they were going wrong.
When businesses use feedback to identify and resolve customer issues, buyers feel more satisfied with their experience and learn to trust your brand if their feedback leads to genuine change. The easiest marketing methods that encourage customer feedback are email surveys and social media polls. Businesses can also prompt customers to leave a Google review if they feel satisfied with their experience or talk to a member of the team if they don’t.
Conclusion
Regularly updating marketing tactics is essential for maintaining high customer retention, so they can keep coming back to your business. While attracting new leads is necessary for expansion, having existing customers is very important as there’s more loyalty programs, community building and better feedback that will be more cost-effective. Focusing on established relationships significantly reduces the high costs associated with new customer acquisition. When customers have a sense of belonging, brands can create a deeper emotional connection that makes them want to keep purchasing from you.
Furthermore, acting upon customer feedback shows a commitment to excellence and responsiveness, which further solidifies that trust in what you’re offering. When customers feel valued and heard, they are more likely to remain loyal advocates for the brand and mention it to their friends and family. When you commit to implementing these new strategies, long-term growth and sustainable marketing ROI is more possible.
Also read: How Retail Stores Can Grow Online with Better Website Design