Although making new customers is essential for your business, strengthening relationships with existing customers and clients is equally, if not more important. Loyal customers are arguably the most important aspect of your business as they generate regular revenue. Therefore, creating goodwill is important as word-of-mouth can also go a long way with finding new customers.
Why did they leave?
Even though the churn rates-the rate at which clients stop providing business for you-is added to every business model, acceptance is not the way to deal with it. Every business aims to grow, and analyzing the reasons for regular customers to drop transactions with your business is a must. Most often, customers churn due to the following reasons.
1. Insufficient service
Customers may feel that the value and quality of service that they have received initially have dropped. Due to this, they move on to better enterprises that fulfill their expectations. Considering every customer works out a fixed budget, they expect the highest standard of service their money can afford.
2. Lowering cost
Perhaps the customers have a financial setback and try to cut down costs that are not essential. In this case, the onus falls on the customer.
3. Better alternatives
Since newer and trendier products are always hitting the market, customers may experiment with these and thereby churn on your business. If they find similar services at a lower price, savings are inherently assumed.
Strategies to win back your customers
Since loyal customers are the most profitable, strategies should be taken up to win them back. Here are some strategies which can be used to win your customers back.
1. Take accountability
If there was a mistake on the part of your business, acknowledge it. Fixing the problem is not only useful for getting your customers back but also effective for providing satisfaction to existing customers. Asking them the reason and owning up to the flaws in your products or services gains trust with the customer. This is an important factor in creating brand loyalty.
Taking responsibility for your drawbacks shows the customer their value to your business and causes them to keep coming back. Once the problem is fixed, it can be used as a marketing campaign. This strategy makes the customers presume that all their grievances will be addressed, and their concerns will not go unheard.
2. Update offers
By collecting user data, their expectations can be understood. Bringing change, offering promotions or discounts, working out better package deals, and other tactics can be effective. These offers entice customers and urge them to change their existing opinions.
Contrasting previous offers with new and improved ones can convince customers to resume patronizing your business. Any offers which are profitable for customers should be highlighted. Surveys can be taken to gather user data as well, assessing what needs to be changed to keep a loyal customer. This can be done through a conjoint analysis, which determines how much people value different attributes such as features, function, or benefit.
3. Use social media
Social media can be a platform to announce updated offers or changes made by the company. Using blogs, videos, or other media platforms enables transparency of the business and its decisions. This makes the customers feel like they are always in the loop. Using these platforms also makes it easy to receive immediate feedback, which facilitates higher customer satisfaction. In turn, this discourages customers from deciding to leave your business.
Social media can also be used for important announcements and request customers to suggest improvements. Customers are bound to appreciate immediate change and will be motivated to continue being loyal.
4. Set win-back goals
Not every churned customer is worth pursuing. Analyzing user data will highlight the more valuable customers to the business. It is advisable to invest time and money to win customers that contribute to revenue significantly.
If a customer never liked your product, gave regular complaints, and did not progress above a 20% license utilization rate, they are unlikely to come back. More profitable customers should be researched and pursued.
5. Express appreciation
It is a given that making required changes is in itself expressing gratitude. However, a small “thank you” note motivates customers to stick with your company for a much longer period of time. This can be in the form of a discount, an exclusive offer, or a gift card.
These strategies not only win back valuable customers but also strengthen the relationship with them. It could also be an effective way to gain new customers by using loyal customers as a channel. Therefore, keeping loyal customers happy should be a prominent goal of every business.