Retaining customers
After getting a new customer, what happens after the first sale? While a first impression is important, it is the long-term relationship that counts. After you have won someone over, it is all about keeping them satisfied and coming back to your store. That is where customer retention comes in!
Customer retention is the art of keeping your existing customers coming back for more. It is about building loyalty, and changing one-time customers into regular customers. The reason why you should focus on customer retention is simple: a new customer will cost you more time and money than keeping an existing one. Think of marketing materials, sales efforts and time you put into attracting new customers and getting that first sale.?
Just a 5% increase in customer retention rates can already do a lot for your store!?
The benefits of customer retention
Customers who keep coming back are not just customers anymore. Think of returning customers like your ambassadors: they will spread the good word about your business without you having to do any extra effort.?They are more likely to actually buy something in your store, and they’ll probably drag their friends and family along every once in a while, too. In other words: they expand your customer base without additional costs! Furthermore, they often provide insights, as their loyalty often stems from a positive customer experience. This gives you a model to replicate with new customers.
Apart from that, retained customers are more likely to share their experiences and suggestions. While this may not be your primary goal, it is useful since this can help you identify areas for improvement. Good feedback is essential for continuous quality improvement and staying competitive. Engaging with current customers to understand their expectations can definitely help you fine-tune your services and customer experience.?
Businesses that successfully keep their customers engaged and satisfied are generally better positioned in the market, so you better get started on keeping your customers coming back!
How do you retain your customers??
Provide outstanding customer service
As you are probably aware of, providing exceptional customer service is one of the most important aspects of customer retention. Ensure to train your staff to be friendly, attentive and knowledgeable, so that they can create positive experiences for your customers by helping them make informed decisions and make their visit more pleasant. Also encourage your staff members to go above and beyond to solve any issues customers may have.?
Create an inviting store environment
A pleasant shopping atmosphere definitely helps getting customers to revisit your store. For example, if you visit a store, you want to be able to find the products you need, right? So, make sure that your store is well-organised and that the store layout just makes sense. To make the store itself more inviting, use correct lighting, pay attention to small details in decoration and most importantly, keep it clean.
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Personalise your customer's shopping experience
You can do this both online and in the physical store (think omnichannel!).
Personalisation makes customers feel valued and understood. Like we mentioned earlier, you can use various types of customer data to increase emotional connection to your store or brand. Think about personalised product recommendations, birthday offers, and target promotions.
Maintain communication with your customers through various channels, by sharing exclusive offers based on their interests or previous purchases, updates about new products that could be relevant to them, or share helpful content.
Engage your customers
Engaging your customers in-store is also an excellent option, especially if you combine this with personalisation!
For example, you could use the PIY Startkit to create such experience in your store (as well as online using our e-commerce solution PIY Online). The PIY Startkit offers your customers a fun personalisation experience, allowing them to create personalised satin ribbons all by themselves (which you can use to wrap gift purchases!).?
Not only will your customers enjoy creating something that makes their gift purchases truly personal: the gift recipient will love their gift, and might even pay you a visit as well!
Try it for free with our 30-day free trial
Would you like to see how gift personalisation can benefit your retail store? Try the PIY Startkit for free and discover how adding this fun experience to your store will keep your customers coming back!?