Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics
The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20% (from Marketing Metrics). Research also shows that a 10% increase in customer retention results in a 30% increase in the value of the company (from Bain and Co.) Anyone working at a SaaS business knows that churn and customer renewals are critical metrics for the business. Yet, many marketing plans are so focused on customer acquisition that they largely ignore customer retention. (note: I did a more recent post on this topic here: Customer Retention: 7 Ideas for Marketers)
Here are some ideas to help you kick-start your customer retention marketing:
- Regular Communication with Customized Content and Special Offers – This is the cornerstone of any good customer retention program and careful attention should be paid here. Most companies have some sort of newsletter to communicate with existing customers but fewer are actively making offers to their current install base that are customized according to what is already known about the customer. This can be as simple as offering an upgrade at a special price to tiered discounts or preferred access to support or other resources.
- Customer service – Poor customer service accounts for 70% of customer loss. Marketing should take that number very seriously and work with the support team to deliver content that can help service folks do their job. In my experience many thorny customer service issues stem from a mismatch between the offering functionality and customer expectations. Marketing can create content that can set customer expectations for functionality and performance to make sure there is a good match between the product and what the customer is trying to do.
- Listen (and then talk) – The overwhelming majority of unhappy customers will never communicate their dissatisfaction with you. Regularly checking in on customers will help you to see signs of an impending departure while there’s still time to fix problems. Regular customer contact through customer advisory boards or other less structured customer calls will often alert you to bigger problems before they’re reflected in your metrics. You can learn a lot by eavesdropping on customers on blogs, Twitter and forums. Just remember that if you are going to engage with customers in this way you need to be prepared to act on the issues they are complaining about
- Loyalty programs, appreciation awards and customer referral rewards – rewarding customers for referring you new business or for repeat buys is always a good idea. Even in markets where that isn’t appropriate (I’ve never seen a rewards program for enterprise infrastructure software for example) you can still give customers an award to recognize them (and give them something to brag about).
- Bring Your Customers Together – at the larger companies I worked at our annual user conference was one of the most successful marketing tactics we did. Companies with smaller user bases and budgets are doing similar things by creating online spaces (in the form of forums, custom social networks, facebook or LinkedIn groups, etc) where customers can connect, share their experiences and learn from each other.
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blog post: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP #marketing #prodmgmt
It’s never clear where “marketing” begins and ends but I would say acquisition is the responsibility of marketing while retention is a function of having a great product and great support team.
Hi Mark,
I totally agree that you need great product and support. That said, I also think there is a lot that marketing can do to bring customers together, get them engaged, set expectations and expand awareness. Every customer advisory board I’ve ever run for example has resulted in a big uptick in sales in those companies.
Thanks for the comment.
April
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP #marketing #prodmgmt
Top 5 Customer Retention #Marketing Tactics – http://bit.ly/bhNavP /via @aprildunford
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP #marketing #prodmgmt
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP #marketing #prodmgmt
wow – poor cust service accounts for 70% of customer loss! RT @aprildunford: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
RT @aprildunford: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP – Much truth here!
RT @aprildunford: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
Blog post: 5 Marketing Tactics to Retain Customers http://bit.ly/bhNavP #prodmgmt #marketing
Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/chYKO5
April,
I agree with you — marketing plays a critical role in engaging and educating customers about how to extract full value from the solution or service in which they’ve invested. Marketing content is also key to keeping customers in the loop about new solutions or functionality that they can tap into going forward. Just as marketing needs to nurture leads, they need to nurture customer relationships to ensure satisfaction, loyalty, and up-sells. While sales and service groups may be the ones delivering the content, marketing needs to create it.
Best,
Stephanie
Hey Stephanie,
I couldn’t agree more – thanks so much for the comment!
April
RT @aprildunford: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: 5 Marketing Tactics to Retain Customers http://bit.ly/bhNavP #prodmgmt #marketing
Nice post. And a compelling case for more involvement from marketing in customer support–especially for any company with a recurring revenue model, such as many SaaS, PaaS and cloud companies.
Totally agree – thanks for the comment.
April
RT: @aprildunford: Blog post – Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
RT @aprildunford: Blog post – Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics by @aprildunford http://ht.ly/1Reje
Love the post April, cust service at the fore! RT @aprildunford Blog post – Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20% http://bit.ly/dcyTEa
@Morten_Emery and poor customer service accounts for 70% of customer loss #kundeservice http://bit.ly/dcyTEa
blog post: Top 5 customer retention marketing tactics http://bit.ly/9XwUIn
Top 5 customer retention marketing tactics http://bit.ly/9XwUIn #marketing #prodmktg #prodmgmt
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Excellent article. RT @aprildunford: Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
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[...] is about customer satisfaction and retention. Don’t think this is important? According to April Dunford churn is a killer. “The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. The [...]
Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics http://bit.ly/bhNavP
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Loving the #custserv chat. Posted earlier on Marketing getting involved in #custserv http://bit.ly/9XwUIn