Customer retention is the ability of a business a company to hold its clients for a long period of time. Having a high customer retention means your customers keep buying your products and services and not defecting to your competitors. Today, business owners are trying to devise ways to lessen customer defections. In a business, customer retention will start when you first land your customer for the first time and this will continue throughout your day to day business running. Many business owners think that customer retention is the ability to attract and hold new customers by offering those products and services they want, however, even the way you service your existing customers can also increase your customer retention. Some Houston businesses send clients gift certificates as a way to improve customer retention. Below are the 5 ways Houston Businesses improve customer retention that you should apply in your business.
- Change the way you think
Truth be said, many businesses today think that because they offer their customers with great products and services they are going to stick around forever. Although this is true, however, customers expect your goods and services to be solid. It is true that customers will switch to your competitor if you offer them poor-quality products and services. In today’s competitive market, offering your customers better products and services is half the journey to customer retention. Remember your competitors too, are doing the same. You must learn other things to improve retention.
- Begin with your clients
Do you run a business that profit-centric and not customer-centric? You need to change your perspective so as to keep your customers with you for a long period of time. Taking a more customer-centric style can help to keep them engaged. Learn your customers’ needs and ensure to serve them with the goods and services they require without fail. To learn their needs, you can use the data available from their transactions. This will give you an insight of what products they buy, what time they buy such products and how they buy such products. Many well-established businesses use big data analytics to get understandings of their customers’ profile and personas. To make sure that the big data they are using works with their systems, they will need to keep it updated especially if they are using old SSAS engines. There are alternatives to SSAS that work with more modernized versions of big data so the results are current for businesses to use.
- Manage your customers’ expectation
If you cannot deliver what your customers expect, you will struggle to improve customer retention. By opting for data analytics software (like the ones provided by KNIME) you can understand your customer requirements. This will provide an insight into what areas should you concentrate more on. And, to retain your customers, you need to clarify your customer’s expectations in advance, the earlier you set your customers’ expectation the better you stand to retain them. In fact, it is advisable to under-promise, and over-deliver what your customers expect. Avoid setting low expectations as that can lead to customer defection. Ensure you they get more from you than they expect and you will be sure to retain them. However, this can be achieved when you know your customers.
- Happy and industrious staffs is equal to customer retention
A company or business with happy and hardworking employees will show. Your employees are your bridge between you and your customers. Your customers will first interact with your employees before they reach you. Therefore, ensure you employees are motivated so as to serve your customers well. Remember no customer will buy from you if they find out that your employees are unhappy and lazy.
- Go above and beyond
In this one, you should be able to come up with a solution to a problem before it is brought to your attention by your customers. Always be proactive!
