You have probably heard business wisdom that goes something like this: It’s less expensive to keep a customer than find a new one. Yet most marketing and customer-focused teams don’t use the tools at their disposal to combat the average 50% loss in customers that happens every five years.
This quick guide—written by marketing automation expert Ardath Albee and sponsored by marketing automation software provider TreeHouse Interactive—details practical strategies and tactics to use in retaining customers. By improving retention just 5%, you can see profitability gains upwards of 25%. In this quick guide, marketers will discover:
Why your perspective needs to shift when moving from prospecting to customer retention
How content and content themes should change
What kind of dialogue you should be having with customers vs. prospects
How to expand your relationship with customers and retain/expand business with them
This quick guide will be very beneficial to marketing, as well as customer-focused teams at your company and will be applicable regardless of whether you sell B2B, B2C, or through partners.
quick 4 Keys to Higher Customer Retentionguide with Nurturing Programs
Marketers spend so much time generating leads and helping their companies acquire new customers that customer retentionand loyalty efforts often get short changed. According to The Harvard Business Review, the average business loses 50% of theircustomers every five years. What's shocking is the reason for the majority of customer decay. Renowned copywriter DanKennedy reveals that 68% of defecting customers are lost due to indifference.
Addressing this issue with well designed customer retention programs delivers economies of scale that pay big dividends. A recentBtoB Magazine article, Acquiring New Customers is Expensive, reminds marketers that it costs up to five times more money toacquire a new customer, versus keeping an existing one. Assuring sustainable company growth requires that marketers focus asmuch on keeping customers satisfied and engaged as they do on demand generation for net-new acquisition.
This quick guide presents four keys to creating a customer retention strategy across B2B, B2C and channel partner relationships.You'll see that many of the strategies for B2B and B2C companies can also be applied by partners to address their end users aswell, depending upon the specific market they serve. What's important is to realize that marketing programs for customers arequite different than the campaigns created to attract and convert prospects. The good news, shared in Leading on the Edge ofChaos, is that increasing customer retention by even 5% can result in profitability gains upwards of 25%.
Key 1: Change Your Frame
The type of information used to genearte leads and convince prospects to buy will not help ingrowing the loyalty or lifetime value of customers. Once a prospect becomes a custom, ertheir mindset shifts. oYur customers already know oyu. They're using your solutions to gainbusiness benefits that contribute to achieving their compya'sn objectives. Just as youwouldn't walk up to someone oyu already know, extend your hand and say, "Hello, my nameis Jane. It's nice to meet oyu," neither should that same scenario be reflected in the contentyou share with them.Change the farme of your nurturing progarms to match your customers' perspectievs bydeveloping content and new offers that wilel ekp their engagement high witho yur companyand increase their lifetime avlue at the same time. oFcus on a seamless extension tocommunication that bridges the atnrsition from prospect to custom.e Br ased on the reasonthey chose your product, what do they need to know next? Nurturing retention paromgsrneed to deliver information focused on helpingo yur customers gain eevn more value thanwas expected at the time of purchase.o Tchange your frame of reference and eexcute aneffective retention progarm, consider creating a customer persona and answering thequestions and concerns around follo-won activities that reinforce the custom'es rrelationshipwith your products. A custome'sr status quo is different than a prospe'sc.t Start from there.The Frame for B2B :Business-to-Business sales are usually high-priced offeringas tt hsolvecomplex problems. Once a evndor-customer partnership is established, retention proagmrsneed to focus on expanding the relationsh. ipB2B customers expect their long-terme nvdorsto add value across the lifetime of the relationship-boenyd their products. Once the initialproblem has been solevd, the opportuniyt to help them solve another is available. Focus onhelping your customers identyif and take action to solve issues they may not have realizedneeded to be fixed. It's not uncommon that the initial prioyri twas blocking their visibilyit tothe obstruction of other business objecetisv.The Frame for B2C:S elling to consumers is usually a short-etrerm effort with much less complexyi tthan a B2B sale. Becauseconsumers are often individuals without the structure of a buessisn need to direct their consumption preferences, the meatrikngframe must shift to focus on enticing them to continue to engage after the fact. This often requires cer etahtinivking abouthow to generate an emotional attachment that extends the relations.h Dipesign communications to address wh'sa tin it forthem to keep using. and to purchase more or additional products that enhance their initial experience.
The Frame for Channel Partner sY:our channel partners are heads down and focused on sellinogu ry products, warppedwith their ... [download for more]
