How Can I Improve Sales with The Customer Retention Cycle?
If you’ve been to our site, you have likely seen the words “Customer Retention” at least a dozen times. Why are we so obsessed with customer retention here at CityGro? Great question. Studies show that is cost 5x’s more to acquire a new customer then it does to bring back an old one.
This is why we have come up with a customer retention solution. We believe by shifting your focus from getting new customers to simply getting your customers back, you will see a dramatic increase in your bottom line without shelling out thousands of dollars in traditional advertising dollars.
How Do You Get Customers Back Through Your Door?
Getting loyal customers today is much harder than it was ten years ago. The marketplace has become more crowded than ever. On top of that, everything is going online. Amazon is delivering groceries, Uber Eats is bringing you meals.
In order to compete with the e-marketplace as well as other brick and mortar stores, you need to up your customer retention strategy. Having the proper tools in place will make you not only able to stay afloat but, will also help your business flourish in ways you didn’t know were possible.
The customer retention cycles can be broken down into three steps:
Let’s break down each step of the cycle further.
Collecting Your Customers Information
Your customer retention campaigns are only as good as the network you are sending them to. You can have the best marketing message in the world but if nobody sees it it’s not going to bring in any customers. This is why having an effective way to gather your customers’ contact information is extremely valuable.
There are a lot of ways to get your customers’ information. You’ve seen the paper methods such as fish bowls full of business cards and clipboards. These aren’t very effective. You have to A) take the time to manually type in all the information into your CRM (who has time for that?), and B) be able to accurately read the information provided. You’d be surprised how similar 1’s, l, and I’s are when written down in an email address.
The better practice for collecting your customers’ information is going digital. Use tools like digital kiosks, SMS keywords, and webforms and watch your list grow quicker than you ever thought possible. On average our customers using these tools will add 2,000 contacts to their list within the first year.
How to Track Your Customers Information
Sending an effective marketing message is all about sending the right message to the right customer at the right time. Say, for example, I run a hair salon. My customer Dave comes in for a haircut. The very next day I decide to send a text blast to all my customers asking them to come in for 10% off a haircut. How likely is Dave to come back in a day later? Not likely. This is where tracking your customers’ behavior, likes, birthdays, anniversaries, you name it can come into play in a huge way.
Taking the hair salon example again, let’s brainstorm a much more effective way to get customers back in the door. We will take our fictional customer Dave again. Every time Dave comes into my salon I check him into my system. From tracking his data I can see he usually comes in every 6 weeks for a haircut. What if I could make my system track his behavior and only send him messages if I haven’t seen him past his usual 6 weeks? How likely is he then to respond to my message? Pretty likely. Well good news, with an automated Customer Retention System you can run these types of campaigns on autopilot.
How to Communicate with Your Customers
Communicating with your customers is always the part of the process that people are most familiar with. Whether it’s text marketing, emails, or social media posts most of us feel pretty comfortable getting a message out. The two tricky aspects of this portion of the customer retention cycle are A) finding the time to send out these messages, and B) actually remembering to do it. This is where having a system where you can automate the whole thing can come in clutch.
Whether it’s setting up triggered messages to go out or taking a day to schedule your text and email blasts for the entire year, having a system that does it all for you is going to make a huge difference in your bottom line.
Start Your 30-Day Free Trial
Get your custom Customer Retention System in place. With the proper tools, you will be surprised to see how easy it can be to get customers back through your doors. You can try our software free for 30 days, no credit card, and no obligations.
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“The company was so easy to work with. My company sees a huge influx of customers every time text messages are released! Thank you CityGro!”
Jayden Stock