In the midst of the new normal, the term “customer loyalty” has taken on a whole new meaning. This is why if you want to survive the business battlefield of the twenty-first century, you must prioritize keeping your current clients. Client retention is at the heart of CRM software.

Your present clients are the serum shots that propel your firm to superhero status in today’s fiercely competitive market. Your company would be nothing without them. While CRM platforms can help you implement a CRM client retention strategy, they can also give you a competitive edge and make your return on investment better.

What exactly do we mean by customer retention?

It refers to a company’s ability to retain customers interested in its product or service. It also serves as a customer relationship management business approach aimed at increasing client loyalty. Creating a loyalty or VIP program, personalizing the customer experience, re-engaging at-risk customers, and putting a lot of focus on customer service are all ways to keep customers.

Customer retention is crucial since it gives businesses information about how well they’re doing. It’s also based on data, like so many other things. Marketers are obsessed with statistics. After all, it serves as the foundation for a good strategy and gives insight into what’s working and what isn’t. When it comes to customer retention, the story it tells is unmistakable:

• Keeping consumers is much less expensive than obtaining new ones.
• It’s also much more difficult to build a strong relationship with a new consumer than with an old one.
• It pays off if you can keep clients on board for the long haul.

Customer loyalty is, without a doubt, an important component of corporate success.

How can brands keep customers happy, keep them coming back, and loyal at times when people are more likely to switch brands or try new things?

You can concentrate on the following customer retention strategies:

Create a solid customer journey.

where your business comes in. The difficulty is that you won’t be a good guide until you first create a customer path map. This allows you to figure out why they’ve come to you in the first place and how you’re uniquely qualified to assist them in achieving their goal.

Only then can you tell if they’ve accomplished their goal, which is critical because you want to be recognized as the best answer for their specific situation. The customer journey encompasses all of your company’s interactions with customers. It starts when they first see an ad or read a blog post, and it goes on through the funnel and into the post-purchase period.

On the surface, it may not appear that this adds to customer retention. Consider the following scenario: By mapping the customer journey, you can acquire a visual sense of how customers interact with your brand. You can use that data to make each touch point better, which will make the whole experience better and ensure your customers have a good impression of your business.

Furthermore, once they make the first payment, the trip does not end. When you use customer journey mapping, you can learn more about how your customers’ needs change and how you can meet them.

Allow the data to do the legwork for you.

A retention strategy should be based on hard evidence that allows for educated judgments to be made. You have access to a multitude of consumer information. Instead of letting the data stay the same, a good plan will use it.

Build a solid basis for your approach using the information you’ve gathered.

Transparency is essential!

Lack of communication can result in a slew of issues. You must explicitly lay out the foundation for your relationship in order to avoid misleading or hurting your customers. A service level agreement (SLA) is a way to establish these “ground rules” so that both you and your customers are clear about what to expect. By communicating this up front, you’ll be able to avoid a lot of possible problems.

Furthermore, having a written agreement helps alleviate customers’ concerns because they will know exactly what your organization will deliver and how you will handle specific situations. For example, if a SaaS company wants to give their clients trust, they might add features like guaranteed server uptime. Customers wouldn’t have to panic if a system went down, since either the supplier would solve the problem in time to keep their half of the bargain, or the customers would be compensated.

With SLAs in place, you project a customer-centric image that demonstrates you care about your customers’ best interests. It will keep you and your customers accountable.

Customers should be treated well.

One of the most effective strategies to keep consumers is to provide excellent service. However, if you flip the coin over, you’ll notice a link between excellent customer service and satisfied customers. Regrettably, the same survey found that businesses had a hard time matching client expectations.

There is a disconnect between customer satisfaction and the value consumers place on customer service. Always keep in mind that narrowing that gap should be at the top of your priority list as it will help you retain more customers.

Pay attention to your customers.

Asking the proper questions is the first step to listening. Use surveys, polls, and other feedback systems to find out how customers feel about their relationship with your firm. It’s hazardous to build anything on assumptions, so go back to letting data do the heavy lifting.

Perhaps you were aware of a customer’s problem when she originally purchased your goods or service. That isn’t to say that her current problems aren’t similar. You could wing it, but you’ll almost certainly wind up going in the wrong direction, wasting valuable time and money.

Allowing your consumers’ comments to guide you is your greatest bet. Don’t stop there, though. Use the feedback you’ve received once you’ve received it. Whether it’s altering the frequency of your reward program newsletter or improving a help desk method to make the experience smoother, it’ll only serve to build your relationship with your customers.

Maintain contact and make it personal.

You must invest time in developing a relationship with your clients if you want them to be loyal. It doesn’t have to be difficult-in fact, you shouldn’t be so focused on reaching out that you become obnoxious. On the other hand, showing that you care about each customer, on the other hand, will foster the kind of warm relationship that will keep customers coming back.

Furthermore, emphasizing personalization shows clients that you see them as unique individuals rather than numbers entered into your company’s system. They will feel special and cared for as a result of this. Personalization, on the other hand, works both ways.

Customers want to know they’re not dealing with an impersonal organization, and you need to consider the human part of your customer communications. Sending tailored messages and sending targeted offers are two great places to start.

Synchronization and integration

One of the most common issues with CRM software is its lack of interaction with other applications. Your total customer experience will suffer if your team is hesitant to use it, and you will lose consumers. There are other connectors available, but we’ll focus on the ones that have the greatest impact on customer experience and retention.

Integration of social media

You should really consider utilizing social media to improve your customer service. Because any social media platform serves as a valuable conduit between the client and the provider, failing to integrate it could jeopardize your customer service efficiency. Businesses who deal with accounting, need to move data between cloud services, or simply want to improve data security may find this useful.

Marketing integration and automation

The key to building a seamless customer experience is connecting your marketing and sales departments. By combining the two, both teams will have access to the same data, saving time on lead creation, customer service, and a variety of other tasks. The information in your CRM will be kept up to date with marketing automation, or if it’s a new customer, a new account will be set up for them.

Integration of email marketing

A CRM-powered email marketing campaign is a force to be reckoned with. Your campaigns will be highly targeted and automatically assessed, allowing you to fine-tune your plan even more. As a result, your revenue will increase, and you’ll be able to eliminate approaches that aren’t useful to your business. Your team will be able to see all of their communication and see a summary grid thanks to marketing integration.

Bottom Line

If you want your business to succeed, one of your key aims should be to keep your current customers. Retaining clients is significantly less expensive and time-consuming than obtaining new ones, and if you have a solid retention strategy in place, backed up by a CRM that can handle the hard work, your company will be safe. It not only costs less than obtaining new clients, but it also revitalizes your revenue stream. You must, however, put in the effort.

By drawing up a customer retention strategy and then using CRM software to help you implement it, you can offer your business a strong footing in an often-volatile market landscape. Because strategy and execution are inextricably linked, you must master CRM choices. There are numerous options available! However, when choosing a CRM, be careful, do a lot of research, and choose the one that best fits your needs and organizational structure.

Take advantage of it to learn more about vendors, which will help you better understand and speed up your search. One of the pillars that supports your business is a CRM system. You owe it to your company and, more significantly, to your consumers, to find the right answer.

Martin Gessner

Martin Gessner is the Founder of Focus on Force.

He has spent over 10 years working in various Salesforce roles including business analyst, project manager, consultant and solutions architect. Along the way he has earned twelve certifications, published "The Salesforce Career Playbook", and helps Salesforce professionals learn more about Salesforce, develop their career and prepare for certifications.