If you think you can stay competitive by just selling a killer product or service, think again. You need a lot more than that to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Customers today have all resources at their fingertips. They might easily be swayed by clever adverts and might build relationships with your competitors. Have you convinced a customer to buy once from your brand? If yes, you have already done the hard part. Now stay calm and focus on customer retention strategies for long-term business success. Customer support solutions in Sydney will help you unlock the key to a sustainable business.

As you have heard many times before, it is always cheaper to retain your current customers than to find new ones. Customer retention strategies aim to maximize the value of your existing customers. Your ultimate goal should be to keep more customers shopping at your store for a longer period. If your business has been up and is gaining traction, then it is time to focus on customer retention strategies too. Both customer acquisition and customer retention are equally important for businesses. When you get more new customers, you can convince more people to stay with your brand and repeat purchases. As competition is increasing in every industry, customer retention has now become a norm. Customer support solutions in Sydney will help you shift your focus towards customer retention.

Effective Customer Retention Strategies

Your customer retention strategies should be formed around your business goals and insights. Well-defined business goals will help you pick the right strategy for your business. The first step towards building an effective customer retention strategy is to understand what they expect. You should also identify your current status and how invested you are to improve your present state.     

Refine Your Customer Support Interaction: Proper customer interaction management is necessary to successfully engage with the customers and retain them. You will have to serve different types of customers. Segment your customer base based on whether the customer is new, prospective, existing, etc. As each type of customer will have different needs, it is important to route them to different teams specialized in each. Also, the types of interactions need not be the same. Requests, complaints and queries will have to be processed differently. You should track and identify the customer type. Refine the interaction and prioritize each according to its type and resolve them accordingly.

Automated Contact Centres: Automated contact centres have now become a competitive necessity. It has immense potential to enhance your customer experience. Reliable customer service and great customer experiences can improve your customer retention rates. Automation will reduce traffic in high-cost engagement channels such as phone calls, thereby, reducing long wait times. Automated contact centres from customer support solutions in Sydney offer other self-service tools, knowledge base, live chat support and more. Automation also improves agent productivity by reducing problem resolution time as they can quickly refer to data and resolve common issues. Automated contact centres will help you offer real-time customer support 24/7/365. 

An FMCG firm opted for an automated contact centre solution from Phykon to improve their customer service. It elevated their customer experience. The firm was able to deliver the same care and attention over different communication channels like phone, email, live chat, social media and more. Phykon offered the best customer support solutions in Sydney which automatically routed customer queries to the right agents with preferred skill sets. This reduced problem resolution time improved FCR rates and the customers kept coming back.

Omnichannel Customer Service: Customers expect you to interact with them through their preferred channel. They require personalized service and seamless transitions across multiple channels like phone, email, live chat, social media, website, etc. Customer support solutions in Sydney will help you analyze your customer interactions across multiple channels. It will help you optimize processes to reduce customer frustration and offer an omnichannel customer experience. It can increase customer satisfaction and be a great customer retention solution.

Customer Loyalty Programs: Loyalty programs are an effective way to increase purchase frequency. It motivates customers to repeat purchases to earn valuable rewards. While customers get more value each time they shop, you will get benefit from their repeat purchases. Loyalty programs will help you collect more data about your customers which will help you serve better. 

A soft drink distributor offered rewards to their loyalty program members for each visit. Also, redeemable reward points were added with each spend. The members were eligible to get free refills, order in advance, pay by phone and get a free birthday reward. Other events were also conducted exclusively for the members. It created a more engaging customer experience which encouraged them to use it more.

Referral Marketing: Along with encouraging existing customers to make repeat purchases, you should also motivate them to refer you to their friends. You can incorporate referrals into your rewards program. It ensures that your customers are not only returning to your store but also increasing brand awareness. 

An eCommerce startup offered its loyal customers an opportunity to earn bonus points for each successful referral they make. In return, the people they referred earned cashback on their first purchase which made it valuable for both parties.

Customer Feedback Loop: Give your customers a chance to share their experiences with you. It will give you valuable insights on how to provide a better experience in future. There should be a system for collecting, analyzing, and distributing customer reviews and surveys. You can implement several methods to collect customer feedback. You can include a survey in post-purchase emails or ask customers to give ratings and reviews for your product or service. You can encourage customers to participate in the feedback survey using simple techniques. Offer a giveaway only to those who participated in the feedback survey. You can also offer reward points for giving feedback. Analyze customer feedback and share it with relevant teams to improve their service delivery. You can use these customer insights to offer more attractive offers and useful product suggestions. Such personalized suggestions and offers will encourage customers to stick with your brand for longer. 

Track And Measure Customer Retention Metrics

Customer retention metrics will give you insights into how well you are incorporating customer retention into your business strategy. For sustainable growth, you will need to perform regular checks and make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Some of the key metrics include CCR, RPR, CLV, PF, AOV, etc. 
Customer churn rate (CCR) indicates the rate of customers you lost over a given period. It is necessary to reduce this number with effective retention strategies. RPR or Repeat Purchase Rate indicates the percentage of customers who have made more than one purchase. CLV gives you an idea of how valuable each customer will be to your store over time. Loyal customers spend more yielding greater lifetime value. Customer support solutions from Sydney will guide you to choose your customer retention strategy wisely. Be in constant touch with your customers and grab the opportunity to go beyond. Focus your time and energy on offering a great experience to your existing customers. They are your best assets.