What’s your customer retention strategy

Most every organization has a strategy for attracting new customers. But have you neglected to create a formal strategy for retaining the customers you already have?

Customer retention strategy is rooted in loyalty. That loyalty is driven, not surprisingly, by what you know about your customers’ needs and what you do in response. Businesses that want to be “best in class” focus on understanding the real needs – and intrinsic value – the customer derives from doing business with their company.

In years past, brand loyalty – an integral part of customer retention – was often taken for granted. Your grandparents’ likely devotion to a brand like Buick may best be summarized as ‘Til death do us part.” As recently as 1980, 80 percent of U.S. auto purchases were made by repeat customers. But those days are lgone. According to CNW Marketing Research, that has plummeted to 20 percent. It begs the question, “What could the automakers have done differently to keep those customers?” By not demonstrating value and appreciation of their customers, those customers fell off the radar – and so did sales. In the meantime, Mercedes Benz has risen to become the number one automaker in customer retention by J.D. Power and Associates. Their customer loyalty premise: High quality and resulting resale value. This is the company that rated even lower than Chrysler several years ago.

How can you make that kind of splash with current customers? It begins by rethinking customer engagement to boost satisfaction and ultimately, retention.

Get to know your customers. Begin by gathering information about your customers with the mind-set that you will act on it. Ask your customers what’s important to them. This might take the form of online surveys, conversations in the aisles or a few questions after a phone order. It might seem like common sense, but make sure you and your staff:

• look at complaints as opportunities
• engage customers in two-way dialogue
• survey customers and solicit feedback
• centralize customer feedback management
• give customers what they expect – and go beyond simple reward programs

Read the rest of “Create your customer retention strategy”.

Related posts:

1. Simple Marketing Audit: Strategy vs. Tactics
2. Failure #1: Not establishing a sense of urgency around social media (marketing)
3. Are customer preferences ‘baked in’?
4. The Burden of Loyalty

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