The best way to make customers Loyal & Retin

Connecting with current customers using customer-centric, data-driven approaches to reach out, on an individual basis, at precisely the right time with exactly the right information, is a specific and effective way to promote customer loyalty.

Interactions that educate current customers, stimulate use of your product, uncover new needs and expansion opportunities, or resolve issues also foster an invaluable emotional connection. If conducted in a manner that empowers customers to learn about topics that are relevant to them while respecting their time and privacy, this approach becomes a high-value marketing differentiator, helping to build the relationships that lead to loyalty.

There are many reasons to launch an engagement and retention marketing strategy with current customers; primarily, it will lead to increased retention, expansion, and advocacy, and improved brand reputation, because you will be providing increased value and contributing to your customers’ positive business outcomes.

Here are my thoughts regarding how to best conduct this type of outreach:

• Nurture current customer relationships to build confidence and trust in your company.

• Engage with customers to gain insight, build partnerships, and deepen relationships.

• Identify more “moments of active engagement” specifically tailored to create value for customers.

• Communicate with different customer segments based on their needs.

• Continue to offer value directly related to your customers’ business goals and outcomes.

• Provide dynamic offers tailored to specific customers.

• Target accounts that you’ve identified as ready for cross-selling or up-selling opportunities.

• Engage in customized conversations based on data-driven (e.g., voice of the customer, health monitoring, customer sentiment), customer-centric insights.

• Ensure convenient timing, frequency, and customized content with each outreach.

• Respect your customers’ time and privacy.

• Point out new features that increase customer productivity and your product value.

• Identify new customer needs and products to expand sales.

• Identify at-risk customers and stop them from defecting.

• Find customers who’ve defected and win them back.

• Discover customers’ unmet needs and address them.

• Encourage a process-focused contract renewal approach versus the unappreciated “one-and-only-outreach” approach just as the contract is expiring.

• Invite select customers to special events: e.g., lunch with the CEO, best practice round table sessions with company leaders, and social events combined with focus group and customer insight sessions.

• Offer role-based or vertical industry value by providing information about upcoming conferences, white papers, or best practices.

• Find your biggest fans and ask whether they are willing to be a reference for you or to provide referrals (new leads) based on their sentiment and loyalty toward your company.

In the emerging hot pursuit to increase retention and expansion, sales team incentives must also be included in your company’s approach to keeping customers happy and loyal. Just as the acquisition of new sales is encouraged with incentive commissions, consider incentives for renewals and overall accounts retention with sales and potentially with customer service and success teams—employee efforts that get measured and rewarded are more likely to be enacted.

Your continuous investment in ongoing conversations with customers differentiates your company from your competitors and firmly establishes a strong link to customers’ long-term loyalty. If done correctly, engagement and retention marketing are a low-risk, high-reward, customer-centric retention strategy that I highly recommend.