How to keep a client: strategies, methods, tools. When good clients leave. How to keep a client

After a dozen consultations, I can only draw one conclusion. The main goal of any businessman is to attract new customers. “New clients! Get more new customers! And in fact, this is a failure. Nothing brings in more money for a company... than old customers. And my article “How to retain a customer” is made just to show you how you can increase sales with the help of retaining and returning customers.

I'm not saying that attracting new customers is bad and should not be done. Not at all. Expansion and expansion is the most wonderful thing about marketing. I'm talking about what is no less important for your business, if you want to do it for a long time, it's to learn how to work with this very base and not lose it.

Long, expensive, inefficient? vice versa

Not so long ago I read a book about neurocopywriting. I really liked one idea in it: “In order for the text to become convincing, it must contain specific, real numbers.” Therefore, in order for my article to be convincing, I will give specific numbers that will give you an understanding of why customer retention is important for your company, especially if you are in business and not “self-employed”.

It is expensive.

Surely you have heard / seen information on the Internet that attracting a new client costs 5-10 times more than retaining an existing one. I found data from a very respected KISSmetrics service (this is a service and), which say that when analyzing all the data that passed through them, they deduced a figure equal to 7. That is, the cost of retaining existing customers is 7 times lower than the cost of attracting new ones. And I'm not talking about the fact that competition is now increasing, and therefore the cost of attracting new potential customers is increasing more and more.

It's stable.

Crises began to constantly shake our world. Especially economic ones. And Russia is no exception. That is why having regular customers (and before that working with them) is very important during the economic crisis. Data from the SumAll analytical platform suggests that firms with 40% regular customers earn 50% (!) more profits than firms with less than 10% regular customers (read - than those that only deal with attracting clients).

It's long.

Rather long term. According to a study conducted by the American statistical portal Statista, a loyal customer who has been with a company for 3 years spends 67% more than a customer who has stayed with a company for less than 6 months. Of course, this time of the client needs to be somehow held back and somehow hooked, but the fact remains.

Why are they leaving?

With specific figures that you can’t argue with and against which you can’t argue, I convinced you that you need to focus on customer retention programs. If not yet, or if you want to see the situation from a different angle, then here's our video for a snack:

The logical step would be to offer customer retention strategies. But I will act somewhat illogically, and first I will tell the reasons why customers leave. Because in my opinion, "it is better to treat the cause of the disease, and not its symptoms."

Bad service

King of Kings. Especially in Russia. As they say, “if you haven’t been rude, then it’s already good service". I say this with pain, since I myself am a “rather harmful client” and I can leave the company simply because I was poorly served. Although after several trips around Europe, I understand that everything in Russia is not as bad as it seems to us.

But still, this is an extremely important point. Since, according to the same statistical portal Statista, 78% of consumers are ready to refuse a purchase if they were poorly served / if they encountered poor-quality service. Moreover, 90% of this number are unlikely to return to this company, even if they were its loyal client long years. But…

As soon as you start to monitor the service, conduct or collect using questionnaires (you can even start measuring), the situation begins to change dramatically.

One-time sales

Another big cornerstone of small business. What is called, "cut down money in a quick way." Although... Attracting a client and closing him for a deal is the easiest thing to do. Making him become loyal to your company and constantly buy from you is a real art.

Let's take an example. Real estate agency specializing in the sale of apartments. According to the owner, the purchases are exclusively one-time. Well, a person bought an apartment, when he pays off the mortgage for it is not clear, and when he buys a new one is not known at all. But…

According to statistics, people on average buy an apartment every 7 years. That is, if you have worked well with this client, he will return and buy a bigger apartment with the help of your own company. In addition, he can sell partner products. For example, there are realtors who earn a significant portion of the commission by selling partners' products for another year after the apartment transaction is completed.

Complex product

It's good if you have a wholesale company that sells the most ordinary clothes. Everything is clear here and the store owner who buys goods from you does not need to learn how to promote this product. But what if you have a training/complex service/online service? A customer can buy once and be lost. And all because I did not understand how to use it. I think you understand perfectly well that there is nothing worse than disappointment from an expensive purchase. But…

As soon as you begin to conduct training activities for new buyers on the product or product, the ability to use it or sell it (sales training for your dealers), or collect from them feedback to understand what they are missing. And even the usual call in the style of “How are you?” (see video below) can significantly improve the situation.

Natural outflow

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do here. The competition, as I already wrote, is quite significant. And the problem is that there are always customers to whom a competitor will offer better conditions / price / discount. Yes, in the end, simply because he will move to another city. Unfortunately, with all your efforts, you are unlikely to be able to do anything with the natural outflow. But…

If you periodically collect feedback from your customers and find out what they lack, talk with refusers why they left, you can minimize the natural outflow. But still, getting retention on the verge of 100% will not work. This is the myth with which business consultants adorn fairy tales.

Magnificent Ten

Of course, in my desire to give the reader a lot of usefulness, I ran a little ahead and already presented small tips on how to turn a “one-time” client into a “permanent” one. Tips are good, however, let's focus and discuss specific measures to keep your customers.

It goes without saying that I will not include such obvious points as “good service”, “individual approach”, “customer focus”, “product quality” in retention methods. This should be your default. Otherwise, it's not a business, but "quick money". If we figured this out, then let's move on to the methods themselves.

1. Savings programs

No one ties a client to your company better than. But if you are now thinking about discounts, this is not entirely true. Discounts are definitely better than nothing. But it is the programs of accumulating various bonuses, points, in general, any “goodies” that bind the client best of all. After all, it is not for nothing that all banks are now introducing accumulative miles, cashbacks and other bonuses.

Business example: Cumulative loyalty program for cafes, which can be easily organized using ready-made services (for example, Plazius). Not only does the program allow you to accumulate bonuses in the institution, it also automatically sends messages to the client that he has not been there for a long time and bonuses can burn out.

2. Client club

The division of society into layers invisibly walks through our business, which means it’s a sin not to take advantage of this. It is for this that various customer clubs are created, by joining which the client receives additional bonuses, exclusive special offers and the opportunity to participate in private events. It sounds very tempting and people are willing to pay money for it.

Business example: For our client, a network of Spanish jewelry around the world, we made a series of private events with a stylist (part of the client club). Moreover, during the event there were super offers. As a result, for one such event, we not only increased sales, but also made our customers more loyal. By the way, one participant could bring one friend with them.

Life hack. You don't have to create your own customer club. You can offer increased bonuses to clients of an existing club of another system (for example, Svyaznoy-Club). Thus, increase the loyalty of existing customers and get new ones.

3. Feedback

I tell our clients all the time that feedback is very important. In addition to bringing new customers and increasing the loyalty of customers who leave them, they also improve your company, as you understand what you need to work on to get customers for life.

Business example: Pizza delivery service. Every month they give away a prize among the people who posted honest review about their work. Thanks to this, they kill 2 birds with one stone - they get tasks to improve the company and make customers more loyal by constantly reminding themselves of themselves in such an interesting format.

4. Social networks

The closer your company is to people, the more loyal they are to it. And since social networks have long and firmly entered our lives, this is an excellent tool for attracting and retaining customers. To do this, your company must be engaged, because your customers are there. Post interesting and useful content for them and inform about new products, sales, promotions.

Business example: I have already written in several articles, I really like group of the Kuban plant on Facebook. And there are hundreds of thousands of people besides me. Their customers, workers and even competitors sit in it. And I am sure that thanks to this group, they have made more than a dozen customers loyal to themselves.

5. Blog or forum

And of course, you can calculate these indicators only on the condition that you keep records of customers. Ideally, you should do this in a CRM system. You can choose the most suitable for you in our article.

Briefly about the main

This phrase may sound like a mockery, but the idea of ​​the whole article can be revealed in just two words - bind the client. That is, you should not only sell to him and occasionally remind yourself of yourself with rare SMS like “we have a promotion! come!”, and fully lead it, because if this is not the case, then the client will go to a competitor. Not sure if you can afford that luxury.

Therefore, set yourself the task of becoming not just the #1 company from the “Do well and there will be many customers” series, but make constant touches with customers under different sauces and servings. So that they understand that any meeting with you is a holiday. Then you will be happy. Although, what is “happiness” is a philosophical question ...

Many entrepreneurs spend almost all their marketing resources to use the rules to find new customers, hoping that they will bring the greatest profit. But experts prove the opposite: it is customer retention that becomes the key to stable income. Of course, new customers are important for any business, but you should not allow an outflow. In this article, you will learn how to retain existing customers.

It would seem, why think about old customers? The basic plan of many businesses is to focus on fresh wallets who don't yet know anything about a particular business and may make a purchase, be disappointed or forget about the seller, and then leave and make way for the next. For each such client, a businessman spends resources. A customer retention system costs about 7 times less than an acquisition system. Holistic, well-designed retention consists of three stages, each of which includes its own activities:

• Stage of short-term customer retention. This stage begins as soon as the buyer enters the store, the site, or only learns about the best offer from the manager, when we are talking about corporate clients. If you keep it for a time long enough to interest, there is a chance to buy.
• Medium-term customer retention stage. The goal of this stage is to keep the customer coming back by constantly reminding them of the place where the purchase was made and encouraging them to repeat it. The brand becomes familiar, the buyer trusts it.
• The stage of long-term customer retention. At this stage, an ideal regular customer is formed - he is active, buys regularly, does not go to competitors. But to make a buyer like that, you need a lot of resources and serious responsibility.

Another definite plus of regular customers is their willingness to share information about you. is appreciated in almost every industry, and most likely, if the client is well served and he came back again, his friends and relatives already know about you. In addition, regular customers help to define and create an average portrait of a typical buyer. Your tools to accomplish these tasks are surveys on the Internet or when making a purchase. Constant feedback will help to find out interests, preferences, wishes (data that you analyze) and will remind you of you.

Customer orientation is the policy of the enterprise, which is aimed at customer satisfaction. Companies that call themselves customer-centric usually don't really care much about the opinions of customers, especially older ones.

Companies that call themselves customer-centric usually don't really care much about the opinions of customers, especially older ones.

Exceptional businesses are so dedicated to managing churn that they create a customer retention department. For business research great importance has a customer retention rate, which can be used to find out the effectiveness of marketing actions.

To calculate the coefficient for a specific period, use the following formula: (A - B) / C x 100%.

A - customers at the end of the period, B - new customers received during the period, C - number of customers at the beginning of the period. Such calculations are inaccurate if you take the entire period of the company's operation.

Short and medium customer retention

In a matter of minutes, when a customer is open to offers, upon first contact, you have the opportunity to make a bright, attractive statement about your product and readiness to work and evoke emotions in the buyer. It is emotions that make a person stay, so make the environment of your product attractive and unforgettable - then the client will definitely want to stay in the place that caused such pleasant strong emotions. A short-term customer retention strategy includes things that keep a customer, like Wi-Fi or a nice salesperson.

For these purposes, websites use a customer retention service - pop-up windows with an offer to call back or online consultations. The seller also important role in short-term customer retention. He must start a dialogue, keep a potential buyer interested in him, direct energy to him. Remember the basic principle of short-term retention: the customer should get more than he expected. This will be his main incentive to return.

Make the brand attractive at first glance and keep the client on a short time buying is easier than maintaining interest and trust for months and years.

The activities of the medium-term hold phase aim to everyday life clients. The most popular methods are promotions, Special offers, bonuses, discounts only for regular customers. Bonus and accumulative programs with cards bring the company to the fore among competitors in the eyes of buyers: it seems to them that it is more profitable to buy from you. Gifts for large purchases will make the brand even more attractive, as well as promotions like “6th free mug”. Your service program must be on top, so the company will become a priority in the eyes of regular customers. Guarantee them free shipping, send information about discounts and great offers via SMS or e-mail. Emphasize the importance of customers to you by reposting posts of happy customers and thanking for large purchases.

Long-term customer retention

The hardest part about retaining customers is acquiring a customer for life. To do this, he must feel almost like a member of the family, who is taken care of and think about his well-being. You can single out such clients by giving them membership in the club with their own set of privileges. Be sure to individualize customers using a CRM system: enter them into the database, note features and preferences, personal information. This is how you highlight regular customers and pay more attention to them: congratulate them on the holidays, find out offers and comments on work, and be the first to inform about promotions. There should be other communication channels (telephone, social networks) always available to the client. The problems of a regular customer are your problems. Become a truly reliable company, happy to help with the operation of your products.

Highlight loyal customers and pay more attention to them.

Long-term retention is most relevant when it comes to corporate clients. For each of them, the company develops a special strategy that takes into account information about the partner - type of activity, financial opportunities, features, interests, corporate culture. Corporate clients are not guided by emotions when making decisions, their priority is logic and calculation, so you cannot count on creating pleasant emotions. Build work with the buyer informatively, concisely, clearly. In the privileges for regular corporate customers, enable flexible pricing policy, convenient service packages, special offers and discounts. The leaders will be pleased with congratulations and your personal interest in his affairs.

Sales need regular customers, their retention. This provides the company with stability and a customer base that can save the brand in times of trouble. It will take a lot of resources and close attention to retain customers, but the result will be a steady profit.

Any marketer will tell you that it is cheaper to retain or retain a customer who has already bought something in your store or company, to motivate him to new deals than to find a new one. But words alone are not enough. Online stores, websites, companies ignore this axiom, without making additional efforts to return the former buyer.

Below we list 7 effective strategies that tell you how to retain a customer.

Why is it important to keep a loyal customer?

The advantage of working with visitors who bought goods in the store is the low cost of attraction. This factor is enough to pay more attention to the accumulated client base in order to keep it.

The more often a consumer buys, the stronger their ties with the store become. Visitors begin to talk about it, attract friends and acquaintances, acting as word of mouth.

When a customer retention rate of just 2% is achieved, sales volume is comparable to a 10% price reduction.

How to return customers and keep them?

Effective Methods

1. Use of personal information

The data that the client left about himself during the first purchase on the site simplifies the next one. But some people will refuse to purchase, just not to waste time filling out a questionnaire.

But there is one trick that increases the number of completed accounts on the site. Its essence is to set the option to fill in the account immediately after the order has been paid.

1. Rewards for loyal customers

A small gift after the second purchase perfectly increases customer loyalty. You can find out about such buyers using sales analytics and inform them about it in your account or via mailing list.

1. Newsletter

1. Surprises for clients

Unexpected gifts always make a good impression and call for reciprocal gratitude, forcing you to do good to the one who treated you kindly. The surprise can be a gift certificate for a small amount or a small souvenir that suits the main target group and creates a sense of self-worth in the client.

1. Using social media to your advantage

Social networks allow you to build long-term relationships with your customers. Marketers say that people who left a like on your page are potentially ready to purchase a product. This social mass can be used - a kind of marketing channel that informs about new products, promotions, updating your own group regularly, maintaining constant contact with subscribers.

How many posts should you post daily? One or two is enough, but you need to do this regularly.

1. Discounts and credits on goods

Discounts should be given very carefully. If profit margins leave much to be desired, regular promotions can develop negative buying habits. However, they can be used targeted to keep returning former visitors. For the same purpose, they use a credit line, forcing buyers to make a decision right now and pay later.

1. Storage or usage data

Another reason to send a letter to former customers. When the period of use of the product comes to an end, sending out information about new products and services will come in handy. This approach works great because the information is sent at the moment when its relevance grows.

Do not forget about such a valuable asset as regular customers and former customers. They already know your brand, are familiar with the quality of the goods, the level of service. Stimulating demand for this group is noticeably cheaper than, and profits can be increased significantly. Especially on weekends and holidays.

Now watch an interesting presentation that talks about ways to attract customers on the site:

Sales Generator

From this article you will learn:

1. What does customer retention mean?
2. What are customer retention strategies?
3. How to keep customers on the site
4. How is it possible to retain B2B customers

In the face of fierce competition, companies have to fight literally for every customer. Moreover, it is not enough to get a client, you need to keep him by all means. In a situation where a person can pay attention to another firm, customer retention becomes one of the most important areas in modern business.

What does customer retention mean?

Customer retention refers to the process of growing the customer base, whose representatives continue to purchase the company's products for a long time. You can also calculate the opposite value - the churn rate, that is, the percentage of people who stop using the company's services.

The frequency of summarizing such results depends both on the policy commercial organization, and from the scope of its activities. For example, mobile operators, many fitness clubs and beauty salons can conduct such an analysis every month.

The level of customer retention (or churn), along with other indicators, allows investors to assess the state of the company. The more buyers the firm loses, the less confidence in its stability. Marketing effectiveness can also be measured based on this information.

For serious companies, the main task of marketing is to retain customers. Not only does this ensure that the right buyers are initially attracted, but it also provides an opportunity to predict whether marketing efforts will pay off, and helps predict the firm's immediate future.

Only numbers about customer retention

1. Customers are tempted to make their next purchase mainly due to loyalty programs - 39 % . The second place is occupied by extensive post-sales support - 20 % . Third - new personalized offers after the sale - 14 %.
2. According to 34 % consumers, the quality of the support provided affects the increase in their loyalty. Count on incentive bonuses 20 % buyers, and for exclusive offers - less 13 %. More than half (54 %) of customers are willing to use the services of a company that provides loyalty rewards.
3. Retaining an existing customer costs the firm Five times cheaper than hiring a new one.
4. If we talk about the average figure around the world, then the cost of a lost customer is $234.
5. The majority of consumers 71 %) refuses further cooperation with the company due to poor quality of service.
6. New client will purchase the product with a probability of 20 %. The chance of a purchase by a person who has already used the services of the firm is 60-70 %.

4 Reasons You Need a Customer Retention System

A modern business cannot do without a customer retention program, and the above figures clearly prove this. But if they didn’t convince you, then let’s look at four reasons why you should consider developing such a program.

Bad service

Unfortunately, in our country this is often the order of the day. Many sellers still believe that the buyer should be glad that he was not rude. Because of such personnel, companies lose a lot of customers.

According to statistics, 78% of consumers may change their mind about making a purchase if they are not satisfied with the service. And nine out of ten customers will not return to this company, even if they have been absolutely loyal to it for a long time.

To change the situation in better side and keep customers, sometimes it’s enough just to start monitoring the service. In some cases, it does not hurt to send mystery shoppers to the outlet, ask customers to answer questions about service in the questionnaire, and measure the consumer loyalty index.

One-time sales

For some entrepreneurs, momentary profit is so important that they do not even think about how to keep a client, and in fact in the future this could bring even greater income.

Let's take a simple example. Often the owners of real estate agencies, when selling an apartment to a client, behave towards the buyer not entirely in good faith, thinking like this: “Anyway, the transaction is one-time, and it is unlikely that you will have to meet the person again.”

Meanwhile, according to statistics, people buy an apartment about once every seven years. And if you please the client, then with a high degree of probability he will soon return to you to buy more spacious housing. You can also offer the products of your partners to such buyers, receiving good commissions for this.

Complex product

If you own a wholesale shoe company, then customers who buy goods from you do not need additional instruction: they themselves perfectly understand how to promote these products.

It’s a completely different story if you have some kind of complex service, online service or training. The client purchased the product, did not figure out how to use it, and does not appear anymore.

What to do? Conduct training activities that can retain customers. Tell people who bought your product how to use it correctly or sell it successfully.

Establish feedback with such clients so that, if necessary, they can ask you for advice. Even if sometimes you just call a person, take an interest in his affairs and help solve a problem that has arisen, this will already strengthen your cooperation.

Natural outflow

It's almost impossible to fight this. There will always be clients who leave for other companies because there is a lower price, more discount, etc. Or a person simply moves to another city, and therefore is no longer able to use your services.

Establishing feedback from customers will help to even out the situation somewhat. Try to find out from refuseniks why they preferred another company to your company, what they didn’t like specifically with you.

Based on this data, you will be able to take appropriate measures to reduce customer churn. Keeping absolutely everyone, of course, will not work, but losses can be minimized.

The main goal of customer retention

A series of actions aimed at collecting information about the behavior of potential buyers, identifying their needs and capabilities, maintaining customer interest in the company's goods and services for the purpose of subsequent analysis of the data received is called retention marketing.

In simple terms, customer retention is a company's actions designed to encourage a person to make a repeat purchase, as well as increase average check purchases.

Submit your application

For retention marketing to function properly, you need to constantly look for new buyers and draw their attention to the company. After all, in order to retain a customer, you must first get it.

How to Calculate Customer Retention Rate

This ratio shows how well the company is able to retain its customers. Calculating the desired figure is not difficult. The main thing is not to make a mistake with the choice of the time interval for which the indicator should be displayed. This period will largely depend on the direction of the company.

Customer retention rate(retention rate)= ((number of clients at the end of the period) - number of new clients for the period) / (number of clients at the beginning of the period x 100%).

Churn rate = 1- customer retention rate

When the influx of customers is approximately equal to their outflow, the retention rate begins to decline rapidly, so you should never lose customers. And if this still happens, then you need to analyze the reasons for this and do everything to correct the situation: optimize business processes, improve the quality of service, etc.

The question arises: what level of customer retention can be considered normal? There is no such indicator. But if you compare the obtained numbers with industry benchmarks, it is easy to find out how your indicators differ from the industry average in one direction or another. Similar comparison should be done regularly.

How to start retaining old customers

To keep regular customers, specialists have developed several effective methods. But, before using any of them, be sure to find out the following points:

1. What kind of customers do you need to keep?
2. Who exactly should you focus your efforts on?
3. Is it necessary to retain every customer?

To understand this, you need to use the Pareto rule, which says that 80% of the profit comes from just 20% of buyers. That is, it makes no sense to try to keep absolutely all customers, first of all, you need to work with those who bring the company the most profit.

Focus on buyers who:

• solvent;
• interested in further cooperation;
• are key customers from each subgroup target audience.

No matter how difficult it is to single out the customers you need from the entire flow of buyers, this should definitely be done. This is the only way your business can grow successfully.

3 stages of customer retention

1. Short term stage.

It starts from the moment the buyer enters the store, opens your web resource, or, if we are talking about retaining corporate clients, receives a profitable offer from the company manager. In order for the buyer to purchase a product or order a service, it is necessary to delay it for some time.

1. Stage of average duration.

A customer has made a purchase at the firm, and your goal is to constantly remind him of this in order to encourage the person to return for the goods. The buyer must get used to your brand, begin to trust it unconditionally.

1. The stage of long-term customer retention.

On it, a person goes into the category of ideal buyers. He regularly purchases your product, while not even looking in the direction of competitors. Earning that kind of loyalty from a client requires significant resources and responsible behavior.

Simple and complex customer retention: 3 strategies

Studying the needs of customers and forming a more suitable offer according to a well-thought-out system is called a customer retention strategy. Such a plan must contain general provisions and goals:

1. Increase customer satisfaction.

The more buyers are satisfied with cooperation with the company (price, service, product quality), the more regular customers it has. If a person does not like something, he will go to competitors. If all is well, then he will contact the company more than once.

1. Increase customer loyalty.

Loyal customers make purchases more often, and their average check is usually higher. These people are happy to attend events held by the company, participate in promotions, use additional services and recommend the company to friends.

By increasing customer loyalty, you not only work to retain the customer, but also increase the chance of him making a repeat purchase, preventing him from going to competitors. To achieve all this, the method of encouraging the consumer is often used.

1. Get customer referrals.

A satisfied person is more likely to recommend the site or store to their colleagues, friends and relatives. Thus, you will not only retain old customers, but also attract new ones. And if you consider that people trust the reviews of acquaintances more than any advertising, then the benefits of such recommendations are obvious.

Customer retention is an important element of every business strategy. Setting such a goal, it must be realized using certain tools for this.

Really effective ways to retain customers

Exclusive

Any client is pleased if he is treated as the one and only. Let the buyer feel his uniqueness, and he is yours forever! Exclusive gifts and offers will help in this matter. For example, you can:

• to a client who has made purchases for a certain amount, to present a certificate for a smaller amount;
• the person who more than a year cooperates with your company, make a 50% discount on all company services within a month;
• invite VIP card holders to participate in the drawing of an exclusive gift.

Loyalty program

One of the most effective technologies for attracting and retaining a customer is a loyalty program aimed at accumulating points.

Its essence lies in the fact that upon purchase, the client is awarded a certain number of points, which directly depends on the amount for which the product was purchased. This tool is quite successfully used by many companies.

An example is airlines whose passengers have special accumulative cards. After each flight, points are transferred to them - depending on the distance that the passenger has traveled under this loyalty system. Many customers accumulate enough points to get a free flight.

Owners restaurant business also adopted this method of customer retention. Instead of a discount, regular visitors are given a cumulative card, to which points are allocated for each order made. Ultimately, these points can be used to pay for one or more dishes, and this is a good reason to visit the restaurant at least again.

Client Club

Any society is always divided into several layers, and experienced businessmen skillfully use this. There are various kinds of customer clubs, whose members receive various special offers, bonuses and the opportunity to participate in private events. It certainly sounds tempting, and many do not spare money for this.

Let's take an example. Manufacturers of Spanish jewelry around the world held a series of private events with the participation of the stylist. The clients invited to them (each of which, by the way, could bring one more person with them) received excellent trade offers.

The result of the action exceeded all expectations: the company not only increased sales, but also raised the loyalty of its customers.

By the way, it is absolutely not necessary to open your own club of clients. You can go a simpler way and offer bonuses to members of some other community, such as Svyaznoy-Club, etc. In this way, you will retain customers, increase their loyalty and get new customers.

Emotions

One of the reasons for returning customers is their emotions. In his book Clients for Life, Carl Sewell, successful businessman and the owner of one of the top auto dealerships in the US, talked about how sales should be a theater of sorts.

It is necessary that the environment: furniture, lighting, etc. - simply takes the breath away from customers. If you make a proper impression on a person, then he will definitely want to return.

In the video below, a shawarma seller from the village of Lazarevskoye gives his customers simply magical emotions. Surely many customers will come to him again.

Customer focus

Many people talk about this customer retention tool, but only a few use it in practice. And the very term "customer-centricity" is not very clear for some.

Customer focus should be understood as a purposeful and systematic work of the company, the purpose of which is to give customers more than they expect, to make people truly happy.

Thanks to this, random customers turn into regular customers. Moreover, people have a motive to talk about themselves, their wishes and recommend the company's services to friends.

Free utility

In addition to selling goods, you can do something useful for the client and for free. For example, you can offer him training materials and reviews, savings manuals, etc. Such a practice not only retains the client, but also increases his confidence in the company, instills confidence in its reliability and competence.

Repurchase Coupon

Using this method, you can quickly show the financial result and make the company known in the market. There was a case when a man bought musical instrument(most often such purchases are considered one-time), and a few days later he returned and purchased another one, of a different type.

Repeat coupons are distributed by most large retail stores- "Eldorado", "M.Video" and others. The same practice has been adopted by food delivery services: for example, when making the next order, the client receives a certificate for a roll. The main thing here is to correctly assess your capabilities, calculate the conditions and translate the idea that has arisen into reality.

Ways to keep customers on the site

Blog or forum

An example of a blog of the Internet agency "Sales Generator"

The company's blog is a place where the client can go at any time and get acquainted with the news, read useful articles for himself, get worthwhile advice. On the forum, a person communicates with like-minded people who, like him, want to say something about the company.

The implementation of these projects is more complex than the creation of groups in social networks, and is inferior to the latter as a marketing tool. But there are areas of trade where blogs and forums as services for customer retention are very useful.

An example is an online store offering organic food. On the store's blog, readers learn new recipes, and on the forum, people share with each other useful tips to improve the figure.

Groups, publics, business accounts in social networks

Social networks are rightly considered one of the most effective tools for attracting and retaining customers. They help to get closer to people, make customers more loyal to the company.

To achieve this, you need to post interesting and useful materials for customers in groups, talk about new products, and report on promotions and sales.

Above is a group of the Kuban plant on Facebook. A hundred thousand people subscribed to it, including workers of the enterprise, his clients and even competing organizations. Surely thanks to this group, the plant managed to both retain a lot of customers and get big number new buyers.

Email distribution

Such a mailing list maintains a constant connection between customers and the company. Emails not only remind a person of the existence of the firm, but also contain useful information and offer the latest news. With the help of such letters, you can thank the client or apologize to him, establish feedback, etc.

You can create beautiful letters, collect analytics, automate mailings using services specially designed for this - both paid and free. But the main thing here is to understand WHAT EXACTLY you need to tell the client in order to keep him.

It is not enough to tell a person about an upcoming event or make a special offer. It is necessary to strengthen relations with a potential buyer, to ensure that he begins to trust the company more. Otherwise, the letter will be ignored or sent to spam.

It is impossible that the mailing list turned out to be boring and consisted only of a call for the purchase of some product. It must be constructive: contain collections of useful materials, practical recommendations, everyday stories about how someone dealt with a problem that arose.

If the client can use the information received in one way or another life situation, he will certainly appreciate it and become more loyal to the company.

People often communicate with each other through emails. Statistics say that in their mailboxes looks in daily 91 % users. But it is quite difficult to reach the client, and even more so to keep him with the help of email newsletters. There are several reasons for this:

1. Almost every serious company is engaged in such mailings. There are too many letters in the box, and a person is simply too lazy to read them.
2. Many users are used to the fact that 99% of mailings are absolutely useless in in practical terms or contain only commercial offers.
3. Newsletters come too often, and this annoys people.

Newsletter

This is one of the most obvious ways to keep a customer. By reporting some changes that may be useful in the process of using your products, you will not only earn the gratitude of the person, but also increase his loyalty.

To some, this method of retaining a client may seem banal. In a sense, it is. Triviality can be avoided if you use not only sms, mms and email marketing to send information, but also chat bots in social networks and popular instant messengers (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram).

Let's take an example. The shoe chain, which launched a public in Viber, regularly makes mailings in this application, talking about new arrivals of goods. These messages are opened by users much more often than emails. And such a mailing is much cheaper than sending a lot of sms.

freemium model

Skype, Kaspersky Lab and some others offer customers to first test their product for free and only then purchase a paid version.

Another effective way to retain a client is to run a competition among subscribers in social networks or website visitors. The winner gets a prize - a free reduced version of the product or a subscription to the service.

Thanks to such tactics of the company, the client gets acquainted with the product or service in advance and understands what to expect from them after the purchase. Moreover, during the time during which he used the product, a person gets used to it and, having appreciated all the benefits and convenience, decides to purchase a paid version.

Games

People like to take part in all sorts of contests and sweepstakes. Moreover, it does not matter where exactly these events take place - in real world or virtual. For many, the latter option is even more preferable. Companies take advantage of this human weakness and use these tools to retain customers.

AT recent times firms create many thematic virtual games, develop special applications for smartphones. People are offered to answer questions about the product in a quiz, complete a task - and bonuses are awarded for all this.

There are always a lot of people who want to participate in the event, because you don’t need to go somewhere or go, you can do it at any time. convenient time, and the mistake made is not at all terrible. Such games allow not only to interact closely with customers, but also to keep customers on long time.

Be a little creative, use non-standard approaches, and then the conversion will definitely increase.

Thank You Page

After making a purchase, a thank you page appears in front of the user's eyes "Thanks for your order". Below you can see an example of one on the Crate & Barrel website:

To retain a client, this site uses the following elements:

• allows a person to save data for making next purchases (“Save your information for next time”);
• gives the opportunity to write a review (“Let us know what you think”);
• based on the information about the order selects other popular products that may be of interest to the client (“Popular Items Based on Your Order”).

Often, in order to make a purchase, the visitor has to create an account, and this is very annoying for many. The Crate & Barrel website offers to register after purchasing the product, which is an undoubted advantage of the resource.

Referral program

Referral programs can be compared to word of mouth operating on the Internet. In 2013, a survey was conducted that showed that 84% of consumers partially or completely trust the advice of friends and family.

Below is the Dropbox website referral program:

In many ways, this site is known for its referral program. Its essence is as follows: more people will come to Dropbox on your recommendation, topics more space on disk you will receive. This tactic has many advantages:

B2B customer retention tools

Discounts

No one will argue that with the help of discounts you can not only increase sales, but also retain customers. This tactic is best used by those firms that do not practice long-term contracts, but carry out one-time sales.

The purpose of any discount is to make sure that the buyer periodically returns for the goods. Thanks to discounts, the volume and assortment of purchases is growing. If this does not happen, then the company simply incurs losses.

The system of discounts must be clearly thought out. It should fully fit into the pricing policy of the company. Dumping reduces the margin of sales and the value of the product. Discounts cannot be provided by default, their purpose is to encourage and stimulate the buyer.

Special conditions

Any company should focus on prospective buyers, differentiating them by value. This approach allows you to retain customers and increase the loyalty of B2B customers. It is profitable customers that drive business growth. Experienced entrepreneurs have long known this fact.

But it does not follow from the above that other clients should be ignored. If you develop a system of levels, then additional services to the most valuable customers can be provided without detriment to the rest.

This system is most often tied to discounts, the value of which depends on the amount spent by the client on the purchase of goods. The result of such a policy will be even better if you use non-material incentives and indirect material motivation of buyers.

The system of levels should be based on the needs of customers, on providing assistance to employees of customers interacting with you.

Personal service

To retain the most promising customers, you need to provide them with both special conditions and personal service. Each such buyer must work with one of the account managers of the company, through which he can contact at any time the right people in the company and quickly resolve any issues that have arisen.

Attaching a separate manager to a particular client is quite expensive, and this should be done only after the economic feasibility of such a step has been proven.

Serious companies working with large customers with a complex decision-making model provide each key client with “their” manager. This makes cooperation more efficient and has a positive effect on business development.

If companies work mainly with representatives of medium and small businesses, then the question of whether to allocate their own manager to the client is considered separately in each specific case. Here much depends not only on economic feasibility, but also on operational efficiency.

Some firms prefer not to allocate a manager to each client, but to go through the automation of business processes. These companies use a methodology called Account Based Marketing (ABM), the main task of which is to personalize relationships with customers.

Based on constant feedback analysis, ABM automatically implements all the necessary processes related to demand generation and lead generation, service and communications. Companies that use this method of work have to reconsider their position regarding the number and competence of managers.

But, no matter how automated the process of communication with customers is, the work of managers still remains in demand. In the B2B sector, one cannot do without personal relationships, which even the most intelligent machines are not capable of. The main thing is to find the right balance between automation and a personal approach to sales and customer retention.

Client training

If client representatives are well versed in the proposed product, then they become more loyal to the company and make purchases for more serious amounts.

Often, a profitable deal can fail only because the customer misunderstood, and therefore did not accept the decision proposed by the company. Especially often this problem arises when it comes to innovative proposals.

The situation can be corrected, and the client can be retained if you provide employees working for the customer with electronic manuals, conduct a course of lectures for the staff, several webinars or trainings. The efforts expended on this will not be in vain, they will become a guarantee long term relationship and customer loyalty.

By training employees, the company establishes feedback with them, learns their needs and identifies possible problems using the products sold.

Such educational programs help not only retain old customers, but also attract new ones. At the same time, not only companies selling some complex product can be engaged in training. Any firm sharing secrets effective use of his goods, will render the buyer an invaluable service.

Serious companies can provide their customers with access to best practices and new knowledge, thereby increasing customer loyalty. Some Russian banks have long and successfully used a similar customer retention strategy.

Additional features

To strengthen working relationships with B2B customers, you should give them access to additional features that are not part of the supply or contract.

There are several options here: offer customers personal promotions, provide useful materials and research results for study, allow them to use their product absolutely free for a while, etc.

Such offers not only strengthen ties with customers and keep them, but also contribute to the expansion of customer needs, create demand for the goods and services provided by the company.

Branded gifts

To remind employees working for a client, you can make branded gifts. At the same time, it is desirable that they be not only beautiful, but also useful.

Various pleasant little things like pens or notepads, calendars or diaries will do. People who receive such gifts will treat your company more loyally and will remember it for a long time.

Customer Success Stories

There is probably no such person who would not like to be praised. And your clients are no exception. The main thing is not to overdo it with compliments so that praise does not seem like flattery.

Share your client's success story in the media, interview key representatives, mention client cases at conferences, conduct and publish joint research. Use all these materials as content to fill your site.

This strategy allows you to retain the client and prepares the ground for joint PR-actions. Decision makers and experts become more loyal to the firm after being told their success story.

The case emphasizes the merits of specific employees working for the client. The professional and career growth of these people contributes to the growth of the customer's company and opens up new opportunities for cooperation between your organizations.

Simple rules for attracting and retaining customers

Keep track of your competitors

Some customers refuse to purchase a product not at all because of its price. It could be something completely different. One is dissatisfied with the fact that the company does not provide an additional service in the form of insurance, another does not like the lack of delivery on weekends, the third expected to pay for the purchase by bank transfer, but nothing came of it.

What to do?

Find out what service competitors offer. If necessary, refer a mystery shopper to them. If you want to retain a client, then the set of services needs to be made larger or at least more interesting than that of business rivals.

Perhaps the changes will require certain costs, but if competitors have coped with this, then you will also have to cope, only you will have to do everything much better.

Befriend your clients

There are many options: occasionally invite clients to dinner, arrange meetings, organize a club for professionals working in the same industry. Remember: it is much easier to negotiate a good deal through acquaintances.

And if you manage to establish friendly relations with the client, then in case of disagreements on any issue, they will be much easier to resolve.

Ask customers what they need

A good way to retain a customer is to ask for their opinion on the service and assortment in your company. This can even be done over the phone. The client will be pleased with such care, and the information received will help you evaluate your positions and prospects.

Resolve conflict situations

In contrast to the well-known statement, the client is far from always being right, but in some cases he should not talk about it directly. Try to show your willingness to deal with the situation first. Keep what you promised. And only then explain to the client what the problem was, how it can be solved and how much it will cost.

Appreciate the speed and professionalism in your employees

"Fast" is a relative concept, a lot depends on the specific business. But you are unlikely to be able to retain a client if the managers working for you do not answer all the customer’s questions quickly and clearly.

• Timm Paul "50 ideas you need to keep customers."

After reading the book, you will learn 50 effective ways how to win customers, keep them from leaving for competitors and make them completely happy.

The book is written in easy and accessible language. It is read very quickly, employees of large and small companies can study it even during short breaks during the working day. And having mastered the manual to the end, you can immediately apply the knowledge gained in practice.

• Jeffrey J. Fox “How to become a sales wizard. Rules for attracting and retaining customers.

Jeffrey Fox is a well-known person in certain circles. He is the founder of Fox & Co., Inc., a consulting company. and author of several bestselling marketing and sales books. Fox tells how best to win over a client in order to subsequently conclude a profitable deal with him.

The style of the book is concise and witty, the advice offered is sometimes unexpected, but very practical. Having become acquainted with this work, top managers and sales specialists will be able to improve their professionalism and outperform competitors in any area.

• Nelli Vlasova "Romance with a client. Attraction, courtship and retention.

The author of the book compares working with a client with a romance between a man and a woman, arguing that the same laws are involved in both cases. If the seller manages to win the heart of the client, then it will not be difficult to keep the latter. All fears and doubts, indifference and even unconscious resistance of the buyer will be overcome.

The book will teach the reader how to control his own energy and magnetism, help him cope with seemingly insoluble problems.

“Chief editor of the GetGoodRank blog, web analyst, blogger.
It is important not only to attract a visitor to the site, but also to keep the client. Let's talk about simple and effective methods retention of customers on the site and improvement of behavioral factors.

Marketers see customer acquisition main task. Only 19% of the marketing budget is spent on customer retention. The current situation requires changes. Research shows that working to retain customers contributes to the growth of loyalty, average bill and website profit.

In this release:

• Why customer retention is important
• Strategies, methods, tools
• How can we help

Why customer retention is important

Let's look at the basic concepts first.

Retention Marketing - the company's actions aimed at studying the behavior, needs, capabilities of customers, as well as involving, maintaining the customer's interest in the product, service and company, diverting his attention from competitors.

Customer retention - these are the company's actions that encourage customers to repeat purchases and increase the average check.

Retention marketing does not exist without customer acquisition. If you do not send customers to the site, there will be no one to keep. Therefore, a competent client policy combines attracting new and retaining existing customers.

Increasing the cost of advertising in Adwords

The graph shows that since 2012 Adwords cost per click has been on the rise, while ad positions have been declining.

The same situation is observed with Facebook and other social platforms. Organic reach is declining. To increase the reach of a post without money, you need to make a titanic effort and spend time.

Honestly, it's easier to pay.

An unpromoted Facebook post will be seen by about 6% of followers. On Twitter, 71% of publications will go unnoticed by subscribers.

Cross-platform

It becomes more difficult to catch a user due to the popularity of Internet access devices. The average user has several gadgets at their disposal. It is extremely difficult to determine on which device advertising will be perceived more effectively, and on which it will lead to the opposite effect (rejection effect). A / B tests are required, investments of money and time, analysis of the results and the search for justifications why this is so and not otherwise.

This disperses the budget for acquisition.

Growing number of advertising channels and tools

Marketers know hundreds of methods of influencing the target audience: overt and covert. In addition to advertising in search, directories (Yandex Market), contextual advertising, blogs, social media, native advertising on thematic sites appeared.

Native advertising - a method based on attracting the user's attention to the brand in the context of user interests and the site where the advertising message is placed. At the same time, the features of the subject matter of the content of the site, the specifics of the target audience of the site are taken into account.

Such advertisements are not identified as advertisements and are not rejected by the potential customer. An example is the placement of brand-sponsored articles in the main, non-advertising content on thematic sites.

Which of the available channels to choose? Which channel will generate the most converting and profitable users? While the effectiveness of the chosen advertising channel is in question, customer retention will yield results in any case.

Getting better for customers is always good.

An increase in the number of regular customers by only 5% leads to an increase in profits up to 95%.

Strategies, methods, tools for customer retention

Customer retention strategy - a plan of action aimed at studying the needs of users and creating a more relevant offer. The plan specifies the general provisions and objectives:

1. Increase customer satisfaction

The number of regular customers is growing in direct proportion to the satisfaction of users with cooperation with the company. I liked the experience - the client returned. If you don't like something, you'll go looking for better solutions. The task is to increase customer satisfaction with a company, offer, product.

2. Increasing customer loyalty

Discounts

One of the most powerful motivators of purchasing power. Even if there is no money, but there is an interesting discount, the buyer will not miss it. We talked about how to distribute discounts correctly and how not to go broke on constant sales in one of.

Newsletter

These are letters that keep in touch with clients. This is a special method of communication with the user. They remind about the company, inform, give usefulness, collect feedback, thank you, apologize, etc.

It is mistakenly believed that setting up a mailing list is easy and inexpensive. Technically, yes. There are tools and services available on the market for creating beautiful letters, automating mailings, and collecting analytics. Paid and free. The bottom line is WHAT tell the client.

In addition to informing customers about new arrivals, promotions, special offers, mailing should increase loyalty, trust and strengthen relationships with the client. If this does not happen, then the mailing list is quickly sent to spam or ignored. And so, its effectiveness tends to zero.

For letters to work, they must not only call the client:

"Buy! So buy it please! Well, please!”

but to give value, free utility, something that the client can apply in his life situation after reading here and now. It can be how-to tips, collections of useful blog posts, a story about how you dealt with your mistake and a negative customer experience.

Mailing Benefits:

• easy to create
• are automated
• relatively cheap

Posting Disadvantages:

• filtered into spam
• often overlooked due to high competition

Although e-mail has become one of the main communication channels, it is very difficult to reach a client through a letter. According to statistics, 91% of users check their mailboxes daily. But why then do users ignore mailing lists:

• high competition- almost every company conducts mailing lists, and there are too many of them in the user's box
• lack of a useful component- users are used to the fact that 99% of mailings are commercial or useless
• high frequency- annoying factor and spam marker

Service and user experience improvement

Most effective tool customer retention - consistently high quality product, service, honesty, openness, competence, credibility of the company.

86% of users are willing to pay 25% more for the best quality service.

Benefits of improving user experience:

• it is always profitable (unlike loyalty programs)
• gives results in the short and long term (unlike discounts)
• strengthens relationships with clients

Disadvantages:

• difficulty in choosing the direction of improvement
• difficulties in implementation
• expensive

How can we help

First you need to understand where to start improving.

1. User interface

If you are directing users to a site that is “stuck in the 90s”, then it is unlikely that users will want to stay with you. GetGoodRank checks the quality of user interfaces. During the check, the ease of navigation, colors, presence / absence of advertising are evaluated.

2. Quality of information presentation

Even the most helpful information will not be read if it is very difficult to do so:

Small unreadable font, small line spacing, lack of normal formatting complicate the task. When checking the site, I spent more time analyzing what is written on the site than evaluating the quality and usefulness of the information.

3. The quality of the assortment, catalog design, order

If the ordering process is confusing, the product card does not provide proper information, there are no prices for products, then the probability of an order decreases, trust drops.

Range is one of the most important retention factors. What to say if your direct competitors in search results offer more options, prices are lower and everything is in stock.

Yes, GetGoodRank checks it too!

4. Quality of service

The client will stay with you if he trusts you. One of key factors trust become contacts on the site.

The more communication channels available to the client (0-800, direct phone numbers of departments and specific employees, online chat, email), the higher the trust. It is important that the channels remain active.

And here is a small map of the client's feelings when it is impossible to contact a company representative:

5. Quality of promotions and discounts

We love promotions and discounts. In addition, it is price cuts and special offers that become the topics of mailing lists. Therefore, the quality of the shares must be on top:

Honesty

We used to go shopping, now all the shops are within clicks. Search for products, compare prices has become easier. The user will definitely notice if:

• the price without a discount is deliberately inflated before the promotion
• there are hidden conditions behind three asterisks
• the action applies to display samples, damaged goods, products with an expiring shelf life - in short, to illiquid

Feasibility

After the delight of anticipation to receive a discount, the client is often disappointed when the conditions of the promotion are not feasible. For example:

• a gift only when buying from 3 units or a top model of goods
• The discount is valid only for purchases over…
• the discount is valid on the condition of purchasing slow-moving goods in one receipt

Availability

Each promotion on the sites is accompanied by a message in small print:

* The promotion is subject to the availability of promotional goods / gifts.

Imagine the disappointment of the customer when the order is placed without a discount or delivered without a gift. If the product is over, the promotion must be turned off manually or automatically. As you wish. Knowing about the current discount and not getting it is a big disappointment for the client.

GetGoodRank assessors check the quality of promotions, special offers and discounts. This affects the overall rating of the site.

Instead of conclusions:

GetGoodRank is a great start for implementing customer retention strategies. Checking the site will show what customers like, what they don't. We will give recommendations on what to fix.

Customer loyalty depends on many factors, including:

• habit
• convenience
• confidence

We won't tell you which loyalty program will keep your customers better (rewards system or discounts for the elite), but we will show why users do not want to stay with you.