Great customer service is the cornerstone of any effective customer retention strategy. It has the power to increase customer value and overall revenue, as returning customers offer more value than new customers.
This suggests your customer service tactics and customer retention techniques should be at the forefront of your marketing plans. There are many different ways to keep your brand on your customers’ minds. Bartercard’s customer loyalty program bRewards, for example, allows our patrons to reap the benefits of a growing Bartercard community. Want to learn more about the impact of great customer service? Read on!
Why is Customer Service Important?
Almost every strategy to improve customer retention will revolve around your standards of service. This is crucial because repeat customers are also more valuable, spending 67% more than new customers, a recent study found. In addition to return business, customer service can also boost the acquisition of new customers, thanks to word-of-mouth and positive online reviews. Customers have been proven to value quality service over prices, location, quality, and other key factors.
Customer service is best understood as an opportunity to make a great impression with customers by handling their questions and concerns with empathy, honesty, and transparency. Customer service impacts both retention and new customer acquisition. A 2020 survey found 91% of 18–34-year-olds trust online reviews, just as much as word-of-mouth recommendations.
A reputation for quality service, built from positive feedback from customers, can be a powerful marketing tool.
Tips on How to Improve Customer Retention
Let’s start with giving employees the responsibility to do what is needed to solve customer issues to reduce customer frustration. Another tip is don’t make customers have to search long and hard for contact details. Make email addresses, phone numbers, or online contact forms easy to find. A thorough FAQ section on your website can also provide simple, palatable information quickly for customers who know what they’re looking for.
Another customer retention strategy is instituting a satisfactory returns experience, which can also create a good impression with the customer and gives them the confidence to buy from you again. Returning customers are statistically also among the most valuable customers. Indeed, Monetate found that the most loyal customers are more likely to return items quickly than other customer segments.
Start a Customer Retention Program
A customer retention program is an amalgamation of several types of tactics. There’s a program for just about every business case, and each is a specific initiative designed to encourage customer loyalty. Handy mobile apps and personalised onboarding programs are great examples.
Similarly, a customer loyalty program should reward customers for their continued commitment, providing escalating benefits as they keep coming back. This results in increased customer satisfaction because they are getting more from the experience than just your product or service.
We recommend a comprehensive loyalty program as one of your marketing tools. This is a smart move for your business and can help you uncover new customers, turn your customers into loyal ambassadors of your brand, and improve your brand’s reputation.
At Bartercard we understand that our members are the best candidates to promote our products and services, so contact us today and learn how you can become a Bartercard member!
