Viewpoint

What is customer retention?

Let’s say you’ve set up your business and identified the right target market. You have used marketing strategies and advertised your business to the correct audience. As a result, you’ve gained many new customers. But if these customers leave after purchasing your product or service only once, you will have to spend a lot of effort to find new customers again.

In a competitive market where there are many businesses targeting the same audience, small businesses can find it especially hard to spend a lot of money and time on constantly finding new customers.

So, while new customers are always good, you need to make sure that those customers keep coming back to your business. You need to engage your existing customers to keep buying products or services from you. This is known as customer retention.

Why is customer retention important?

1. Be available to your customers

   It is very important for you to be available to your customers during their entire experience with your business. In a physical store, this can be done through the presence of shop assistants who assist and guide the customers and answer their queries.

   In an online store, you can add Help, About Us, and Terms and Conditions page for your customers to know more about your business with ease. Make sure you have a Contact Us option available, so that customers can send you valuable feedback, questions, or complaints. Good feedback and complaints help you improve your products and offer better customer service.

   This creates a two-way interaction between you and the customer, and makes your buyers feel valued.

2. Be visible on social media

   Use social media to be visible to your customers and express your business ideas. It helps to build a brand presence for your business, which is important for being trustworthy. Use Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook to share testimonials and reviews from happy customers.

   It not only builds customer loyalty but also attracts new customers.

3. Reach out to old customers

   Just like it is important to maintain a good relationship with your old friends by calling or texting them regularly, it is also important to reach out to your old customers to let them know that you care. Bulk emails are a cost-effective and personalized way to connect with old customers. You can let customers know about your latest products and offers, seasonal discounts, and much more.

   If you remember your old customers, they will also remember you.

4. Offer loyalty programs

   Loyalty programs are one of the most effective ways to boost customer retention. They are rewards or discounts that you can give to customers who frequently purchase your products. Even small businesses can use this strategy to make customers feel special, and treat them like old friends. By tracking customer information, you can offer special discounts to your regular customers, and also learn about their shopping habits and preferences.

   Loyalty programs give customers incentives to keep buying from your business, and give you an edge over your competition.

MarketCentral is an all-in-one platform which lets you handle all these customer retention techniques with ease. You can set up your own online website in less than 30 minutes, completely free of cost! Use it to stay in touch with your customers, send bulk emails, store and analyse customer information and connect your social media accounts!

With these powerful strategies, MSMEs can compete with top business on a level playing field. Join the movement to democratize Indian business with MarketCentral.