It is common knowledge that for a company to succeed, it requires growth. But in order to maintain that growth, customer retention is crucial. 

According to research, it’s been discovered that just a 5% increase in customer retention can generate up to a 95% increase in company profits. The retention of your customers shouldn’t be seen as a minor factor in your business planning – it’s a key player in the longevity of your business success.

The art of customer retention is a skill that can be mastered, and in this guide, we will look at the key points to develop an air-tight retention marketing strategy for 2024. 

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5 Proven Customer Retention Techniques 

The process of attracting new customers is more expensive than retainment of existing customers. This can range from 5 to 25 times more expensive. Keeping your pre-existing customers happy is more cost-effective than spending precious time and resources on acquiring a fresh customer base. 

We also need to consider that generating sales from an existing customer base holds a probability of between 60-70%. Whereas a new customer holds a measly 5-20% probability, according to Marketing Metrics. The data clearly showcases how important customer retention is for the upward trajectory of business growth, but how do we put this into practice? 

Here are five proven strategies to add to your 2024 strategy:

• Collecting customer feedback and actioning where required
• Providing exceptional and timely customer service
• Improving customer communication through social media platforms 
• Offering a personalised experience
• Maintaining an efficient calendar for customer interactions

Let’s break these down. 

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Collecting Customer Feedback and Actioning Where Required

Customer feedback should never be underestimated when it comes to customer retention. It is one of the most organic ways of gathering information and will massively help you to improve the service offered to your customers. Customer feedback shines a light on where your company is performing well and where you are falling short, allowing you to patch up weaker areas and increase the rates of customer satisfaction.

This information can be collected through surveys, social media interactions and online reviews. Criticism is disheartening, but constructive criticism allows you to restructure your business where necessary, thereby improving your rates of customer retention. 

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Providing Exceptional and Timely Customer Service

In our age of an ever-growing digital world, response times have quickened, and many customers are expecting a near-instantaneous response time from companies. This advancement in technology is great for reaching a wider audience, but places pressure on a business to avoid slow response times. 

Going into 2024, having an efficient, swift resolution period is paramount to retaining your customers. Having more traditional contact methods such as phone and mail is important, but the use of social media messaging and chatbots should be implemented into your strategy to ensure customers have plenty of accessible and convenient methods of contact. You can use the Redfast Platform to track subscription usage at an individual level to create targeted solutions that will increase customer retention.

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Improving Customer Communication through Social Media Platforms 

Following on from the previous topic, social media is an extremely powerful tool and can be used to make or break a brand’s image. It is a weapon that must be used wisely to increase your customer retention levels as we reach 2024. 

Nearly all businesses now have some form of online presence, and in the digital age, it is important to establish a strong online presence through active engagement with your customer base. The most common platforms include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

And with the majority of customers using social media to publicise their experience and opinions with a product or service, it is a vital place to monitor and control to prevent the development of a negative or untrustworthy brand reputation. 

We recommend you strengthen your social media presence to connect with your target audience, which will encourage feedback and allow you to respond to customers and inquiries at a much faster pace. 

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Offering a Personalised Experience

As we go into 2024, we need to consider personalisation as a key priority towards customer retention. It has been proven that customers are, by far, more willing to invest in brands which cater to their personal needs and specifications. 

This can be done through offering personalised discounts based off their purchase history, which tailors the customers experience based off their individual preferences. According to a study, 68% of customers said they would prefer a brand that offers this feature. By using Redfast, you can intercept cancel-clicking by prompting users with a save offer, or a cancellation survey, which aids in gathering customer feedback.

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Maintaining an Efficient Calendar for Customer Interactions

A huge component in retaining your customers is through frequent interactions and follow-ups. As we firmly plant ourselves into the digital age, there are many competitors to choose from and it can be very easy for a customer to lose track, or simply forget that your service or product exists.

This is why it is vital to ensure that your customers are made aware of your presence through regular interactions. These interactions don’t have to come through one channel – they can take the form of personalised emails, discount vouchers and app reminders. You can also use telephone surveys, feedback forms and after-sale feedback to reinforce the presence of your service. Regular contact is pivotal to maintaining the connection you hold with your customers, as well as reestablishing lost ones. 

With such a high level of interactions, it can be hard to manage and track. This is where creating a communication calendar that monitors the time gap between customer communications will prevent both under-communicating and over-communicating – you don’t want to overwhelm your customers with excessive messages.  

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Implementing Strategies for 2024

While business growth may seem more important than retention, it is important to the consider the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of customer retention. Your current customers are truly your biggest asset and as such, sufficient time and energy should be taken to implement the right customer retention techniques for your business.