Customer Retention Strategies

Customer retention is on the minds of small and medium-sized businesses across the world. With rising customer acquisition costs, businesses need to innovate and assume a proactive role in retaining clients.

1. Set customer expectations

Set promises you can fulfill, a great way to foster loyal customers is to “under promise and over deliver” on the expectations.

2.  Be the expert

Small and medium-sized businesses are becoming more and more dependent on services to run their operation. No matter what industry you occupy, if you can be the expert in your particular field, you will likely retain more customers.

Becoming your customers’ trusted advisor will build customer loyalty and reduce customer churn.

3. Build trust through relationships

As the age old saying goes, you do business with people you trust. Trust is essential in business, and building relationships with clients will garner that trust. A study by the African Journal of Business Management found that as trust increases, commitment tends to grow.

4. Go above and beyond

Oftentimes, companies overlook how important this is. Going the extra mile for your customers is an easy way to build strong relationships. As a service business, you have countless opportunities to woo your clients and transcend the minimum.

By doing this, you can build some serious long-term loyalty. If your clients know you are prepared to go above and beyond, they will stick with you when competitors start knocking on their door.

Here are a couple of ways you can go that extra mile for your clients:

• Pay attention to what your customers want and make their issues your issues – be proactive in addressing them.
• Isolate potential issues and fix them before they become problems.

5. Implement customer feedback surveys

Customer churn can be avoided by simply listening to your customers. Customer feedback surveys are invaluable for learning how your service is performing in relation to your clients’ expectations.

Ross Beard