Are You Retaining Your Customers?

One of the things that any business is focused on is growth. The most obvious form of growth is in acquiring new clients/customers that come to you for the product or service that you provide. But this is only one part of the growth equation. Another, similarly important component is customer retention, and in many ways, may prove to be the foundation of a successful business. So what is it, and how can you achieve this?

Coming Back For More

Customer retention is, quite simply, the ability to establish a relationship with clients/customers so that they literally “keep coming back for more.” In other words, customer retention is about having repeat customers who, once satisfied with the results they achieve with your business, become “regulars” that return to give you more business.

The Right Time

When you’re just beginning, every customer is a new customer, so you don’t start thinking about customer retention just yet. However, as you start gaining more traction, and see a few sales per week, you need to start looking into which customers are doing business with you on a regular basis. When you’re averaging about one sale every day, now is the right time to start putting customer retention programs into place.

Customer retention itself can come in a lot of forms. You can offer store credit or discounts, you can create a customer loyalty program that accumulates points that can be spent on items, discounts or other perks. The key, however, is to reward high value customers for their loyalty. Carefully look at your repeat customers, analyze the frequency of their purchases, and the value of those purchases, and target these customers first. Let the effect “trickle down” with promotions and reviews from your loyal customers that explain these benefits, and you’ll eventually have an established, effective, customer retention program that keeps them coming back!