Marketing isn’t just about generating new leads, it’s about ensuring the relationships you’ve built with current customers are continually strengthened and maintained. Improving customer retention means that all those new leads that are converted are more likely to become long lasting clients that over time generate more recurring revenue.
Depending on your product or service there will be a defined buying process your customer or client goes through and where this process is identified and mapped, opportunities can be created.
Marketing is a top to bottom approach and with it being such a broad area, how can it be used to add value to the customer process?
- Provide marketing content
Marketing content can be used to provide additional information where needed. If your product or service is a significant investment for a prospective or current client, then specific and useful can be introduced at certain points of the process to reassure that person and business that they’ve made the right decision.
- Make it personal
Automated communications can be tailored to the customer and their specific needs and content can be shared that you know will be of use. This makes the customer feel you’ve understood them and what they need from any future products and/or services.
- Make them feel welcome
So, you have a new customer. What then?
Deliver a welcome pack to formally greet them as a customer and make them feel special and valued right from the start. This can be done online or it can be physically delivered. For example, estate agents or mortgage brokers often send new home packages to congratulate home owners on their new property. These gestures can go a long way in creating a positive experience and increases the chance of word of mouth recommendations.
- Make sure communicating with you is easy.
For a service based business, this is especially important. Operational support can become critical to the success of a customer’s purchase and it’s vital you’re available should assistance be required. The website, social media platforms, an online portal and phone calls are all channels through which customers will try and contact you. They should be easy and simple to access with a quick resolution to any problems they’re experiencing.
- Give tailored offers and rewards
The key to strong marketing results is through targeted marketing. Segment your customer base and see what customers are buying and what they’re not. Group them into specific sets and create marketing around them to ensure any offers or rewards will be of value to them and the business they are in. It’ll also increase any cross selling opportunities that you may not have capitalised on.
- Gather feedback
Understanding the service your customers have received is essential. If you don’t know how they feel about the process, product or service, how can you best identify areas in which you can use marketing to add value?
Make sure you’re gathering feedback at the earliest opportunity, whether that’s after a large project has been completed or 6 months after they came on board. Giving them an opportunity to voice their concerns will also allow you to address any issues before they’re tempted to post a negative review online.
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