Customer Retention Tactics: How to Keep Customers (Happy)
Businesses today all face the challenge of holding onto customers in a fiercely competitive online world. With so many options just a click away, shoppers can easily switch to a rival offering a better deal or experience. If you run a small online business, it’s natural to focus on getting new customers — but the real value often lies in keeping the ones you already have. Customer retention is all about keeping your customers coming back for more. As we’ll discover, it can cost five to 25 times more to win a new customer than to keep one. The stats show that loyal customers tend to spend more, too. Learning how to build satisfaction and loyalty could be just what your business needs to get ahead. What is customer retention? It’s never easy — finding new customers. But whatever kind of business you run, it’s nearly always cheaper and easier to hold onto the customers you’ve already got than it is to go chasing after new ones. Simply put, customer retention is about building lasting relationships with people who keep coming back. It means keeping your existing customers happy and engaged so they stick with you over time. Why? Because happy customers are more likely to stay loyal, spend more, and recommend your business to others. The most underrated marketing tactic out there isn’t getting new customers — it’s keeping the ones you’ve already won. It works both ways: loyalty drives retention, and the stronger your retention, the more loyal your customers become. Every lost customer is like losing two: the one who left, and the one they might have recommended. Customer retention is something you can measure. By tracking things like customer lifetime value, repeat purchase rates, and churn, you can better understand your customers and spot where your business could improve. Two key metrics to keep in mind: ✅ Customer Retention Rate (CRR): the percentage of customers who stay with you. ✅ Customer Churn Rate (CCR): the percentage who leave. A high CRR means your customers are happy. A high CCR? Time to dig deeper. But we’ll come back to those later. Why customer retention matters Depending what your business does (and who you ask) it can cost anywhere from 5 to 25 times more to bring in a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Loyal customers save you money, spend more over time, and help grow your brand through word-of-mouth. According to OutBound Engine they’re: 5x times more likely to make a repeat purchase, 4x times more likely to recommend the brand to family and friends, and 7x times more likely to try new products or services. That’s especially important online, where you don’t have the benefit of face-to-face interaction. Building trust takes time, and keeping customers becomes even more important. The lower your churn rate, the healthier your business. Just a small increase in customer loyalty can have a big impact on your bottom line. Returning customers spend 67% more over time than first-time customers, while acquiring a new customer can be five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one, according to Forbes. 92% of consumers believe that recommendations they’ve received from friends and family have more impact than advertising. Added to that, those customers who are loyal to your brand are also 1.9x more likely to defend it against criticism! Having said this, the stats will depend on the industry you’re in. Statista reports that media and professional services businesses are much more successful when it comes to customer retention CRR (84%) than, for example, travel and hospitality industries (55%). In short, here’s what strong customer retention gives you: ✅Increased profits: Repeat customers tend to spend more, more often. ✅Decreased acquisition costs: Less money wasted on chasing new leads. ✅Improved brand reputation: Loyal customers are your best advocates. ✅Improved customer lifetime value: Happy customers stick around and add lasting value. Luckily, there are plenty of tactics small online businesses can use to keep customers coming back for more. Stick around: 12 customer retention tactics to make customers stay 1. Add personal touches that surprise and delight The best way to keep customers is to go above and beyond. A thank-you note, a cheeky extra in the package, or a tailored message based on past purchases — it all adds up. It’s about creating little moments that make customers feel noticed, valued and happy to come back. 2. Build loyalty with rewards and perks Loyalty programs are a classic for good reason. Offer discounts, early access, or exclusive treats for repeat shoppers. A simple points system can do the job — people love feeling like insiders. A common method is a points system, where customers earn points for every purchase or interaction. They can trade these points for rewards such as discounts, early access to sales, free shipping, or tiered rewards that encourage spending more. 72% of global shoppers feel loyal to at least one brand, and 84% are more likely to stay with one that offers rewards. In the UK, 65% say they’re more likely to buy again if loyalty points are on offer. So it pays to say thanks. 3. Streamline the buying process Making buying as easy as possible is key to boosting sales and keeping customers coming back. When browsing and checkout flow smoothly, customers are less likely to abandon their cart. A simple, secure payment process leaves customers feeling satisfied and valued, which builds trust. Positive experiences turn into loyalty, and loyal customers often spread the word — increasing sales. 4. Be mobile ready Over half of internet searches now happen on phones. The slice is even bigger when it comes to shopping purchases. Google prefers mobile, too, giving better search rank to pages that have been optimised for smartphones. So while the mobile experience is important to all website owners, it’s an absolute must if you have an online business. See also: Why You Need a Mobile-Friendly Website (and How to Get One) 5. Engage
How to Get Your Business Found with Google Ads
Google Ads is a tool that helps put your business in front of customers who might be searching for what you offer. By far the world’s leading Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising platform, it gives you control to run campaigns, track their progress, and switch things up as needed. And it’s easier than you might think, even for the non-technically-minded small business owner! With a well-aimed campaign and the right keywords, you can get your brand out there — no need to call that advertising agency. What is Google Ads? Since its launch in 2000 (as Google AdWords), Google Ads has grown into the internet’s biggest Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tool. More than a million businesses worldwide are using it today. ‘Ads operates on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model. That means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. No clicks, no charge. So while it isn’t free, it can be a very cost-effective way to put your business out there in front of potential customers. The beauty is that it lets you reach people who are already searching for what it is you do or offer — be that a baker in Bristol, a hairdresser in Harrogate, a florist in… you get the picture. One advantage of online ads is that they’re much more targeted and measurable than traditional ones: unlike with billboards or magazines, where you pay regardless of whether anyone notices, Google Ads lets you set your own budget and track performance, so you know exactly where the money’s going. Google claims that for every $1 spent on Google Ads there’s a return of $8. While that’s based on an average across all industries, it can certainly do a lot for smaller businesses, too. More than half of small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) run PPC campaigns today. For reference, the average conversion rate for Google Ads on the search network is about 4.4%. Interestingly, paid ads like these perform up to five times better on mobile devices by some estimates. This just goes to show the importance of having a site that works well on mobile. SERP – Author: Seobility – License: CC BY-SA 4.0 What’s the difference between SEO and SEM? Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is about improving your website’s position in search results “organically”, without paid ads. The focus is on things like keywords and quality links to help your site rank higher. It’s a slow process, but it works. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is about paid ads that put your business in front of customers right away. The online ads you see on Google belong to the SEM category. While SEO builds long-term, SEM helps you get noticed right now. As we’ll get into, Google Ads don’t just show up in search results — they can also appear on websites, and on apps like YouTube. This can put your business in front of customers, wherever they are. For more: Local SEO in 10 – How Do I Get My Business Found Online? How to get started with Google Ads Let’s walk through the steps to help you set up your campaign and start seeing results. Before we get into it, we’ll assume you’ve already built a great website with Website Builder or Managed WordPress. Be sure to create a Google Business Profile so you can get found on maps, also. Throw Google Ads to the mix and you’ll have all the right tools in place to get found exactly where your potential customers are searching. 1. Sign up and set up your Google Ads account First, head to the Google Ads home and sign up. You’ll need to enter your business name and website URL. If you already have Google accounts like Analytics, linking them will speed up the setup process. You’ll be taken to the main dashboard, which is easy to navigate and will look like the above. This is where you’ll be able to create and monitor your campaigns. 2. Choose your campaign goal Once you’re all set up, it’s time to pick your campaign goal. This is the big picture – what do you want your Google Ads to achieve? Choosing the right goal helps Google fine-tune your ads and target the perfect audience for the best results. Google Ads offers several options depending on what you want to achieve. Here’s a look at your options: ☐ Drive website clicks – More clicks, more eyes on your business. ☐ Generate leads – If you’re after sign-ups, form submissions, or customer inquiries, this is the one. ☐ Boost sales – Set this goal to focus on increasing purchases or conversions on your site. 3. Set your budget and bidding When you’re running Google Ads, bidding is how you decide how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your ads. You’ll want to decide whether a daily or monthly budget works best for your business and goals. If you’re new to this, it’s a good idea to start small, then gradually increase your budget as you begin to see what’s working. When it comes to bidding, there are two main ways of going about it: ☐ Manual bidding – Setting the maximum amount you’re willing to pay per click for full control. ☐ Automated bidding – This lets Google optimise your bids to get the best results within your budget. 4. Start creating your ads Google Ads gives you lots of ways to get seen. You can choose different ad formats depending on how you want to reach potential customers. Choose your ad format Search Ads appear as the “Sponsored” ads on top of Google when people search for something related to your business. These are great for reaching customers who are ready to buy. Search Ads are great for reaching customers who are ready to buy and usually feature only headlines and descriptions, so no image is needed. Display-based Ads, which do include images, appear across various platforms and target users based on their interests, even when
6 top tips to get your message out there
Coming into the new year it makes sense to re-focus what you do and how you do it, so you can be more efficient and more effective over the next 12 months. How you sell yourself in the words and messages you deliver to customers and potential customers is one of the most important factors to examine. The modern world is all about here, now and short and sharp and if you are not ‘with it’ you may be missing out. Here’s six top tips from us to make sure our messages are making an impact: 1. Use bullets Do you remember when you used to do exams and the teachers always told you if you were running out of time, to list your outstanding points as bullet points? They did that for a reason. It’s far better to show your hand in a bullet than risk either not getting round to making your point or perhaps risk having your point lost in a paragraph or seven further down the page. Especially in digital delivery (online, social media, email, etc) brief is a winner. 2. Keep language simple in your headlines and bullet points That’s not to say acronyms, slang and buzz-words shouldn’t be used (they may well have great SEO value) but you want your headlines to appear clear and appeal to the widest possible audience. By all means use more colourful language to illustrate concepts and where there is a technical knowledge being discusses to gain credibility, but keep your eye-catching words to a standard that all can engage with. Start simple and then develop your point. 3. Show solutions When talking about your products and services try focusing less on the actual specifications but more what those specifications mean. Even technophobes can grasp a concept better if you present it in a way of how it actually benefits them. Stats and technical details can be used to illustrate later but for the majority of your audience you should be looking to engage with them as to how your products and services will impact on them – and hopefully benefit them. 4. Pay heed to The Rule of 3 Ok so we have six top tips here but if we were mailing this out, we’d probably have stopped at the bullet point before. Why? Well three has a bigger impact on the subconscious. It’s why you will often find politician’s making a speech will make three points to re-enforce a statement. It’s important to never have more than three key messages if you are to avoid confusion for your audience and also ensure maximum impact. By all means add sub-messages for sub-categories (e.g. each product having its own set of three points) but remember short and sharp is the modern way. 5. Use WOW words Modern day teaching pushes the use of wow words (highly descriptive words like incredible, fantastic, etc) because it keeps students engaged in their work. The same can be true of marketing messages. Don’t over-do it, you are not writing a fairy-tale, but show some excitement in your language and you are more likely to get your potential customer excited too. Action-based words and phrases work well in marketing messages which is why you will often see things things like “time-saving”, “cost-effective” and “market-leading” 6. Think 25-50-100 As a trainee journalist this is how I was taught to write a press release. Consider your story and then work out how you can sell that in 25 words, how you can sell it in 50 words and how you can sell it in 100 words. (Actually, it used to to be 50/250/500 but in the modern world if you haven’t grabbed somebody within 200 words you have probably lost your chance). Whatever your communication make your message within these parameters. In the first 25 words you should be able to say everything you need. In the next 50 expand on those points and in the final 100 sell it some more, perhaps with a bit more technicality as well as a very brief summary. That’s six to be getting on with. There are tomes of books on this subject so plenty more to absorb, but if you do start with these 6 you are sure to start seeing some positive impact on your message impact.
Why now may be the perfect time to push your PR
In the UK, the months of July and August have long been known as ‘the silly season’ in the world of journalism, the term was even used before the end of the 19th century. Referring to the more frivolous news stories that appear in the media during the ‘quieter’ summer months. Despite the move towards news consumption online, the adage runs true and these summer months continue to be a slower news season and so a great time to attract the eye of an editor who may not normally give your pitch or press release even the once over. There are many reasons. With summer holidays always popular, media teams are stretched thinly during the silly season, so have less time to research new material. Additionally, the summer holidays mean there are less people sending in press releases or story ideas, so your story is more likely to get attention than during busier times. So if you have a good story, a new product or new staff member, now is the perfect time to push it out to the press. Admittedly, the summer of sport this year has made the silly season less silly than normal, but editors are still desperate for a story that is a little different and something to break the monotony of too many sports related stories this summer. That said, as the multitude of ‘specials’ confirms, many editors are looking to climb aboard the media train following the Olympics if you can give your own story a topical twist you could find yourself front page of a trade journal or even prominent in a national newspaper. It is not all press driven either. You can help yourself and your site with some SEO considerations too. With the world’s eyes on the UK at the moment with the London Olympics, the rising trends in search are unsurprisingly Games 2012 related. That’s what people are searching for but competing against the big guns in terms of those keywords would be unwise. It would be even more unwise to try some ambush marketing techniques that risk infringement of the very strict LOCOG rules covering the use of certain protected words around the competition. Yet, with a little bit of thought and some clever writing you could help see your own blog or website, jump on the coat-tails of trending keywords. If you are GB based, make-sire you are making the most of the current trend for GB and Great Britain, but do remember Google will penalise you if your use is not relevant to your site. Have you taken advantage of the silly season? We’d love to hear your stories.
Keeping it real in the virtual world
Running an online business has many advantages over a traditional bricks and mortar company. A virtual shop front gives you the ability to attract customers from all around the world. You’re not restricted to people passing on the local High Street. Your overheads are typically smaller, and if your product is an online service, you don’t have to worry about manufacturing or shipping costs. But there’s a downside too. If your business only exists as a set of pixels on your customers’ computer screens, how do you prove to them that you’re more substantial? Can you demonstrate your credibility, and can you persuade them that you’re not a here-today-gone-tomorrow company? Create a real world presence Perhaps your online business needs a real-world presence, to build confidence and trust among more sceptical customers. At 123-reg, we’ve decided to try a high-profile route, by advertising on some of London’s buses. But there are plenty of other ways to ground your online company in reality too: Attend trade shows and events. Conferences, industry gatherings and public events are a great way to show the face of your business and meet potential customers. Maybe it’s wedding fayres or perhaps it’s motorshows, but attending the right events can dramatically increase your company profile among your target customers. Open a pop-up shop. A growing trend over the last couple of years, a pop-up shop is where you temporarily take over a retail space, usually for just a few weeks. It gives you a physical presence without having to worry about a long lease. Business campaign group StartUp Britain is currently giving online retailers the chance to sell on the High Street in a pop-up shop. Brand up your car. Driving around in garishly-branded cars is a trend popularised by estate agents. But there’s no denying it can be effective, particularly if you drive a lot for business or tend to use your car in areas where potential customers live. You just have to make sure you’re happy piloting a big, attention-grabbing advert for your company. Offer a collection service to local customers. Many online businesses are run out of small industrial units, large enough to store stock but not suitable as a retail outlet. If you have premises, why not give customers the option to visit to collect their purchases? Simply offering this facility will reassure customers that your business is established and successful. Finally, always ensure you include a bit of background information on your website. At the very least, it’s important to provide full contact details, including a postal address where people can reach you. Additionally, your website’s ‘about us’ section is the ideal place to provide more information about the people behind the company. Have you done anything to make your online business more tangible in the real world? Leave a comment to let us know.
6 Branding tips every new business should follow
Branding is about managing how customers see and feel about your offering. If you get it right you can become the latest object of desire of the masses. Get it wrong and you could be forever flogging a dead horse. If you are starting a new business or new brand here’s six things to keep in mind: 1 There’s more to branding than a logo Yes a funky, eye-striking logo is nice to have, but that alone won’t win you customers and neither is it the limit of branding. In fact how your logo looks is a lot less important than you probably think. Take Google for example, it regularly changes its logo to fit in with the latest front page doodle, but people still flood back. It is the content of the site and the trust and reputation of the brand people come back for not the way it looks. 2 Make it cross-platform So you’ve secured your domain name, now secure your social media names too. Twitter username (Maximum of 15 characters), Facebook Page unique URL (More than 25, less than 100 likes), etc. It is important these match to make sense to your potential customer, so they can easily find you if they need you. 3 Make it uniform That could even mean making it your uniform, branded clothing does work in the right circles. Whatever you do just make sure that spellings, spacing, capitalisation and even colour where applicable, are the same wherever your brand is used. 4 Define your brand and state it Dedicate a page on your website to defining your brand. What makes it unique? What philosophies drive it? Where did it begin? Where is it heading? Not only will it re-inforce the brand-washing in your own head but it will make it easier for potential loyal customers to latch on to you, normally because of some shared values. 5 Give it character It may be your brand, but it is better to be its own brand. It may be just you writing the copy and tweeting at the moment but if all goes well you will expand and there will be other contributors. Define the voice of the brand now and it will be easier for all in the long run. Also character means being a bit controversial every now and then. Make a stand and stick to it. 6 Be seen and be known Following on from 5 above, if you show an opinion people will take notice – in support and against – that’s what you want. Also make sure your brand is out there, on billboards, in newspapers, at events. The more people see it the more notice they will take. Don’t ignore local publicity and media either. It’s usually much easier to get coverage, great for gaining experience and also good stuff often gets picked up nationally that way too. Of course, there is so much more to branding and it’s an ongoing task, but if you ignore these six you can almost guarantee your potential customer will be ignoring you too.
How to check the pulse of your marketing efforts in just 10 Minutes
Time: We’re always complaining we don’t have enough time to get things done. However, as a marketer no day should go by without getting up to date with your website analytics. Results matter so you have to check and see if your marketing efforts are paying off. This article covers a few simple steps you should follow at least once a week so you can stay up to date with your site’s metrics. This is what you have to check: Traffic Traffic should be the first thing on your list. No matter the type of website you own/run getting traffic to your site is as important as air. And you don’t want to run out of air, do you? When you check to see what your site’s traffic looks like, focus mainly on the number of visitors – unique as well as returning. Try to find out from this data what drove visitors to your site in a certain period of time or at a peak – maybe you ran a marketing campaign, sent an e-mail newsletter or ran a special offer. If your traffic was lower compared to a previous month, try to determine the factors that lead to a decrease – were there holidays, for instance, that could influence it? Conversions How is your site performing in terms of conversions? You can have a huge amount of traffic but if your visitors don’t convert, it means you’re doing something wrong. Check to see your call-to-actions, special offers or anything that would convince the visitor to convert. Take a closer look at the pages with low conversion rates and figure out how to include more opportunities for your visitors that they wouldn’t want to miss out on. Obviously, check the copy too as there might be something missing there. Sources Take a look at the organic searches, marketing campaigns, social media traffic, direct traffic and see if there’s a trend that catches your attention. What about the referral traffic? Anything interesting there? Use the inbound links to see if maybe there’s a linking opportunity there – maybe offer to write a guest post to generate more traffic to your site. If your blog posts are also generating traffic, check to see which ones are the most engaging and create more topics around that type of content. Keywords Analyze the keywords and see which ones have converted better. On the other hand, don’t neglect those keywords with low conversion rates because often these are opportunities you need to explore more. Write down these keywords and remember to use them in future content and blog posts. For an even better positioning, try to avoid general keywords and instead go with long-tail variations that are more specific to your business. ROI You are investing time and money in to your website, but are you generating sales to provide a return on that investment? See how you can reduce costs where possible. As a conclusion, don’t just analyse. Review those stats but also write down some actions that need to be taken in order to constantly improve your marketing efforts. How often do you review your site’s metrics? What metrics do you consider to be the most relevant?
Don’t get lost in Geo-location
FourSquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places: What you are doing when and where is what smartphones appear to have been designed for. Even Twitter lets you search for tweets sent locally – location is a big feature of social media and still much under-used by businesses. Most Smartphones now come with geo-location and if you’ve not used or don’t really know what it is all about you are missing out. Basically it is similar to tracking or positioning that you may be used to if you use a GPS sat nav. The location of a place or user is identified either by using the IP address of their computer or the radio-frequency identification (RFID) of the user’s smartphone. With the increase in uptake of the smartphone there it is a marketing tool with growing potential for the for small businesses. The first to use it for marketing have been the bar / restaurants and retail sector. Networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla combine gamification with check-in at new places and by encouraging visitors to check in, the business can use that information to track trends and even target specific campaigns to the users checking in. You can even encourage new people on the networks to sign in by offering special offers when they are in the vicinity. Once customers choose to engage in this way you can almost guarantee they are more likely to be better engaged than your average ‘casual’ customer so it is well worth the investment into looking after them. What’s more location-based social networks like FourSquare and Gowalla now offer integration into other networks like Twitter and Facebook so you can encourage your check-in customers to re-tweet or post to their wider audiences on the bigger networks too, spreading your brand. Geo-location is still in its infancy and many even with smartphones don’t yet fully grasp it, either as a business or end-user. However, the integration and possibilities seem endless and are only likely to improve, so if you invest time and effort now you could see yourself several leaps above your competitors in an area of marketing that will become commonplace in a matter of months. Do you already use location-based marketing? How? With what effect? We’d love to feature any innovative ideas.