10 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty and Retention with Opt-in SMART
One of the most common mistakes many small businesses make is that they spend a lot of energy trying to get “new” customers; while ignoring retention efforts to keep their “existing” customers coming back.
In other words, they allocate most of their budget to getting new customers to come through the doors, but hardly invest any of their marketing dollars on keeping their existing customers spending money with them.
To clear it up, a successful business is not about who gains the most new customers; it’s about who gains the most PROFITS in the end. A true “loyal” customer is cultivated over time; not one who makes a couple of purchases and they’re gone.
Business owners who only focus on attracting new customers usually find out the hard way that many of their customers won’t stick around for the long-haul.
Therefore, instead of looking for a million of ways to attract “new” customers, companies must put more attention towards their existing customers.
What is customer retention?
Simply put, this is the act of applying effective strategies and techniques that prompt your existing customers to use your company whenever they are in need of your type of products or services in the future; turning them into long-term, loyal customers.
Of course, customer loyalty heavily depends on how good (or bad) your products are – as well as how good (or bad) your customer service is. However, without solid processes that actively keep your existing customers coming back, even the best products and best customer service won’t keep your business afloat alone.
Some companies already understand that REPEAT business should be one of their top goals; so they are aggressively implementing powerful customer loyalty and retention strategies.
What does this mean for your business?
Well, if you are not on the same track, you could be losing some of your customers to your competition. Not only that, but those competitors are probably using customer retention tactics that will make your customers STAY with them.
A loyal customer can be further described as:
- Someone who makes regular purchases from you
- Someone who purchases multiple products and services from you
- Someone who refers others to your company
- Someone who ignores the competition
Loyal customers are hard to come by; so HOW do you make it happen?
Ways You Can Build Customer Loyalty and Retention
You may be wondering “how” your company can build stronger customer loyalty.
With Opt-in SMART you can implement into your marketing strategies that will help keep your existing customers coming back to do business with you. By doing that that, but you will “keep” them in a long-lasting relationship with you – ultimately leading to a boost in your bottom line.
Every business should make a serious effort to devote adequate time and apply the appropriate budget to the area of “customer loyalty” if they want the best ROI.
Don’t know where to start?
You’ve probably noticed that many businesses are using the paper punch card type incentive and rewards programs… While this is better than doing “nothing” in regards to building customer retention, there are many other avenues that will help keep your customers around.
Digital technology – such as your mobile phone and computer in conjunction with Opt-in SMART – makes building customer loyalty easier than ever before. Not only that, but these methods make it easier for companies to actually track data associated with those strategies.
In our next Blog- coming soon you will see 10 ways Opt-in SMART can help you can help you keep in touch, build relationships and get more repeat sales:
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