In a competitive industry, client acquisition is important, but client retention is essential. As the axiom says, it costs less money to retain an existing customer than it does to find a new one.
So, you should always be doing everything in your power to ensure that your company is making every effort to maximize retention.
One-way major companies seek to ensure their customers stay their customers is to build an active community with a sense of loyalty to their brand.
Think about people in your life who are strictly Coke or Pepsi; Apple or Android. The most popular techniques employed by large companies are popular for a reason.
They work and are effective at taking an occasional consumer and converting them into a loyal customer who will stick with their product for the rest of their lives.
If you own a business, you should be taking these examples from major corporations and using them as a roadmap.
If you can build a similar level of loyalty with your company, you create a guaranteed core of customers, which serves as a foundation from which you can grow to new heights.
All the little things your company can do to go the extra mile for your customers can help. However, they're nothing if the underlying product or service is not there to back them up.
The first thing you need to ensure is that you are providing your customers with a quality product or service that they love.
If your business involves the delivery of items or the timely execution of services, always strive to beat your estimates if possible.
When you put in the extra effort to show you care, the customers feel more respected. Once you've set these expectations, it's essential that you continue to meet those levels going forward or you may find that you lose large numbers of once-loyal customers.
Even the highest quality products will occasionally go awry. When your product or service is not up to scratch, you'll get calls or messages from your customers looking to rectify what went wrong.
Make sure that you have staff capable of connecting with customers and solving their problems quickly and satisfactorily.
Once you have fixed the issue, don't forget about the customer. Be sure to follow up and make sure they still love their experience to help them feel important.
You don't have to wait for problems, either. Running promotions and interacting with your fans forges an emotional connection, which makes them more loyal to your brand.
Your social media channels are an excellent and modern way to learn about what your clients like and dislike about your brand.
Take advantage of this information. If there is a groundswell of support around the desired service, or there is a common complaint from customers, react accordingly.
Your fans will feel heard and appreciate it.
Another great thing about creating strong bonds with your customers is how deeply it allows you to know your audience.
After a while, you will improve your ability to better predict not only what your fans want now, but also what they will want in the future, even if they don't know it yet.
Staying on the cutting edge makes your brand one worth sticking loyally to for the long term and creates repeat customers.
Although elements to please the fans you have are necessary if you want to grow, you also need to learn to reach outside your most loyal fans to bring in future loyal customers.
Using influencers who have authority in the field to build word of mouth around your brand in a natural way is an excellent way to find new fans.
Make sure you choose an influencer who fits with your brand and products, as nothing is more of a turn off than seeing an obvious shill job where the individual promoting the product is not really a fan.
There are few things more valuable to a company than a lifelong customer. By focusing on building a stronger bond and a more vibrant community for your customers, you can help to build that type of following for your brand. Your bottom line will thank you.