7 Tips For Outstanding Customer Retention
Here are seven customer service tips to get your business up and running for outstanding customer retention..
Customer retention, often measured in repeat purchases, plays a massive role in driving profits for any business.
Businesses that excel in customer retention are usually
positioned for long-term success and possess a far greater
competitive edge over their competitors.
So how do businesses master the art of customer retention?
Though there are other contributing factors to high customer
retention, the most effective one probably belongs to superior
customer service.
Customer service is designed to create a positive customer
experience in order to increase customer loyalty and ultimately,
long-term customer retention.
Customer service is more than a worthwhile investment, so:
1. Pay Attention To Complaints And Compliments
The National Transportation Safety Board offers an approach that
every business can learn from. The NTSB takes every accident
very seriously, ensuring that the same incident should never
occur again. Work that same policy into your business, taking
every customer complaint very seriously, ensuring that your
business will never have to deal with the same complaint
twice.
Use customer complaints to bring about new ideas and ways to
improve your product or service. Use the same approach for
customer compliments too, using compliments as a point of
reinforcement for what your company is already doing right.
2. Just Ask Them!
There isn’t a simpler method of retaining customers then just
asking customers what exactly is it they seek from your business
and how they want it given to them. Whether you ask them via a
printed survey, an online survey, over the phone, in person, or
via email, it is crucial that you just ask them. You’d be
surprised at the detailed response you’ll receive, sometimes
saving you the trouble of spending extra on expensive market
research.
Consider conducting a focus group with your customers. With a
customer focus group, you have the opportunity to tap into their
collective needs and wants and reward them for their time with
discounts on their next purchase, or anything that will
demonstrate your sincere appreciation.
3. Up Your Service With A Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs used efficaciously by businesses such as the
airlines industry are extremely effective for outstanding
customer retention. Starbucks is another company that ties
customer service in with a loyalty program that keeps its
customers coming back for more. A variation
of a loyalty program can be in the form of offering specialty
discounts for customers in your database sent via email.
4. Service With A Smile
Not every business owner believes that “the customer is always
right,” or that the “the customer is king” and they’re quite
right to believe so. But, in situations where customers are
distraught and tend to seek attention through emotional
outbursts, it pays to keep calm and take control of the
situation by appeasing the customer with a smile and doing
everything
possible to pander to the customer’s frustrations.
It may seem over the top, but this approach will reflect
positively on your business and an end-result will be
outstanding customer retention.
5. Be A Solution Provider
Customers are a savvy lot and they can usually sense a sales
pitch approaching miles away. Though they love buying, customers
hate to be sold to. Instead, adopt the approach of being a
solution provider, showing that you sincerely care about their
needs.
Lend a listening ear to your customers and let them know that
you’re not after their wallets, but instead collaborating with
them to help get what they want in a way that will benefit both
parties. This approach works almost all the time and is the
secret sauce for high customer retention.
6. Be A Value Provider
Companies are always harping about providing value to customers,
but very few of them actually understand what it means.
Providing value to customers simply means giving first and
receiving second. Giving first could be as easy as offering a
free email newsletter filled with juicy tips that other
companies would have charged a premium for. It’s a great way of
differentiating yourself from your competitors and at the same
time, providing great value for
free to your customers.
7. Keep Your Service Memorable
Customers usually become fans of your business when they
remember something remarkable you did for them. This usually
happens when customers have a problem with something they bought
from you and need to be fixed. The easier you make it for them
to get it fixed and solve their problems, the more satisfied
customers become. It could even be as simple as providing human
support within three rings of a customer calling instead of
sending them to voicemail and a maze of phone menus.
These seven customer service tips are some of the easiest ways
to impress and retain your customers, often for life. But, don’t
take my word for it. Put it into practice and you can determine
for yourself, if your customer service is working by the number
of repeat buyers appearing in your database.
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