Keeping your customers happy and coming back for more should be a priority for any business. Happy customers are likely to tell their friends about your business, which in turn means more sales and new customers. This is a customer retention meaning. On the other hand, an unhappy customer will probably not return to your store again or recommend that others do the same. In this post, we’ll be looking at five great ways that you can improve your small business’s customer retention strategies and ensure that as many of your customers as possible come back time and time again.
1. Have a strong customer service strategy
Customer service analytics is a foundation on which all your other customer retention strategies will be built. This includes how you handle customer complaints, what processes you have in place for dealing with items’ returns and exchanges, and how you will approach and follow up on customer queries. Let’s say that a customer contacts you to say that you’ve sent them the wrong item. Depending on your business strategy, you might offer to immediately send the correct item and cover their shipping costs as a gesture of goodwill. Or perhaps you will ask them to send the item back. Every business will have a different tactic for how to handle these unpleasant situations, but without a customer service strategy in place, you will not be able to react effectively to any customer’s needs.
2. Offer free or discounted services
How to improve customer retention? A great practice to encourage your customers to come back is to offer them free or discounted services. You may want to offer this to loyal customers, or you can even sweeten the deal and offer it to new customers as well. People love to get great deals, so showing them that you appreciate their business and want to reward them for it can go a long way towards making them feel special and keeping them coming back for more. There are many different types of services that you can offer at a discounted rate or even for free. You could, for example, offer to get the third item for free, or provide discounts devoted to various holidays. The third Sunday in July is a great opportunity to offer a 50% discount on all yellow items you sell. Find out your Yellow Sunday and develop a personal strategy.
3. Send out coupons and promotions
Another great method to keep your customers returning is to send out coupons and promotions to them. You can do this via email, on your store’s website, using special customer retention software, or on social media platforms such as Facebook. Coupons and promotions can be a great way to get new customers in the door, too. There are many online coupon websites where you can submit and have your coupons posted, or if you’re looking to promote your business in a local area, you can partner up with grocery stores and other local businesses to offer coupons to their customers.
4. Scan their bar codes
Another effective way to keep track of your customers’ retention rate and their purchases is to scan their bar codes. This is especially useful for retailers and other stores where customers are likely to make multiple purchases during a single visit. When you scan a customer’s bar code, you can keep track of the total amount that they have spent in your store and keep their loyalty card updated with the purchases that they have made. You can then use this information to send out coupons and special deals to your frequent customers.
5. Send personalized emails to your customers
Marketing and advertising your business is important, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be in people’s faces all the time. Customer retention metrics offer one more great manner to keep in contact with your customers while also keeping your ads subtle and friendly to send out personalized emails to your customers. For example, you can send out gift cards to your customers on their birthday, or you can send out a special discount code to them on Black Friday. You can also send out emails that let your customers know about new products that you have in stock, or that let them know about the latest news and updates from your business.
Conclusion
A happy customer is likely to tell their friends about your business, which in turn means more sales and new customers. On the other hand, an unhappy customer will probably not return to your store again or recommend that others do the same. Keeping your customers happy and coming back for more should be a priority for any business. With these five great ways that you can improve your small business’s customer retention strategies, you will improve your business’s bottom line.
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