Customer Retention

How focusing on your existing customers pays off – and how to do it

I read the news today..oh boy….

Sunday Times, March 13 2016. The Ombudsman upholds 97% of energy complaints referred to them. To compare, 55% of bank complaints are upheld. And I thought that was bad! Energy companies profit from customer apathy. 70% of customers are on the most expensive tariff. This is because they don’t switch tariff or company. The final […]

Customer retention – top tips

Make sure you offer the service your customers want. If you aren’t sure how to do that, check out the rest of the toolkit or download our book here. Service is important. 68% of customers who stop doing business with a firm do so because of poor service. Contact customers who stop using you, either […]

The importance of Employee Engagement

I’ve read a lot recently about the importance of employee engagement. I find it hard to understand why many companies still don’t seem to have got this right. I’ve always thought of staff as a customer group who want the same 6 things as any other customer. Having staff engaged in the business is […]

You won’t feel the benefit

My mum always used to say this if I didn’t take my coat off as soon as I got inside. But this is about customers… Think about why your customers buy from you. It could be any of these (and it could be different for each customer): They have a contract with you It’s […]

Relationship marketing

The right marketing strategy builds long term relationships with customers. There are 2 types: Push marketing is about product promotion, reminding your customers about your products. This works well if you are a retailer with products which people often buy. It doesn’t work as well if you are service based or a B2B business. Pull […]

Customer retention – Nigel’s story

Picture the scene – 7.30am on a cold winters day in January 2007. The sky was dark and forbidding, the roads and pavements icy. I’d just arrived at work and was immediately called into a director’s office – not usually good news! The conversation went something like this: “You have a new job as of today”. “What?”. […]

Customer retention and the customer journey

Retaining your customers is about meeting or exceeding their expectations. You never want to give them a reason to stop using you. So, how do you do that? Well, for me it’s about the customer journey – mapping and understanding it. That means you can be sure about the customer need at every stage of the […]

Customer retention – the facts

When you start a business, your focus time and effort trying to find customers. That’s understandable. The mistake many business owners make is that, as their business grows, they continue in the same way. And it’s not just small businesses. There are many companies advertising products and services at prices for new customers only. General insurance […]

Building trust with customers

Trust is key to a successful long-term relationship (of any kind!). An easy way is to be proactive. Give your customers a courtesy call about how they can use any changes you make. This proactive, personalised approach increases customer loyalty. It also makes any other customer retention strategies more effective. Chris Herbert of Effective IT, an Australian […]

Do you reward the right kind of loyalty?

Most businesses see a customer as loyal if they spend lots of money with them or hold several products. Many encourage you to buy more products. Some offer exclusive deals to existing high value customers. Consumers, though, see loyalty as how long they have been a customer, not how many products they have. Customers ranked […]