CompanyCustomer Retention Strategies Small Business-Owners Can Start Today

If you are a small business owner, you know how tough competition is these days. Even though the presence of the internet leveled up the playing field for them, this also gave consumers with lots of choices. A single bad communication bout or wrong step, and your customers will go elsewhere.

Any company needs a good customer retention strategy but it may require greater significance when you have a short client list.

Below are some of the best strategies you can put to use for your customers to keep coming back to you again and again.

Be Smart with Your Emails

For small business owners, email marketing is a very powerful strategy for customer retention. This is an easy way to build relationships, communicate information, and generate sales and leads. However, see to it that you are smart with your emails. Avoid spamming your customer with emails each week. Try using your average time in between orders to have an exact prediction of when they are ready to purchase again. The best time for sending an email is before that. Be warned against random emails as well. You can set action-triggered emails for increasing positive response and engagement to your offers.

Empower Your Own Team

There are times when you will need to enhance your internal systems for your customers to return. The process is rather simple. You just set expectations upfront that all employees must filter challenges or questions before you bring them to management. Allowing your team to independently solve issues will put management in better advisory role and help employees refine their thinking skills and build confidence. More importantly, it will also streamline processes and speed up reaction times.

Create Advocates

Experts also suggest that small business owners must double down on establishing brand advocates as well as recruiting influencers in social media for promoting their brand. The moment a customer buys something, you can turn him to an evangelist through continuing relationship by way of product inserts, follow up in social media, and email campaigns. This is a wonderful method for the underdogs to make it big in the most cost effective way. To make customers advocates, it will also be of great help if you can add a personal touch. For instance, if you are a lawn care provider, you can ask for information about the pets of your clients, and use these details to send personalized gifts for the pets of your clients.

Don’t Forget That You are Not Special

No matter what type of service or product you offer, it is not really unique even if you think it is. Don’t take this as an insult, though. Instead, this should serve as a reminder that some features may influence the purchase decision of a potential customer but these will not make them come back. After all, it is not all about the type of technology you use. It is more about establishing a real relationship with the customers. For you to do it, make sure you keep things simple by being courteous, responsive, and genuine.

Posted by Randy Blakeslee – GetnSocial