7 - Talk to Existing Customers
Welcome to our 2016 Advent Calendar! We are sharing a marketing tip or trick every day until Christmas. To make sure you receive these updates, don't forget to register here. Happy Christmas!
Existing, and more importantly, repeat customers hold vitally important information. Gaining a customer can be extremely difficult at times, but keeping them? Even more so!
"Companies focus on acquisition more than customer retention, even though it can cost 7x more to acquire new customers" (Kissmetrics).
Aside from the clear financial incentive, there are many other reasons to not loose focus on your current customers. You can turn your new customers into repeat customers by promoting what repeat customers are returning for! (Tongue twister, anyone?) But first you need to find out what your current customers value the most.
Here's some quick ways to initiate conversations and gain that invaluable insight:
- Follow up email or phone call (the personal touch is often best!)
- Asking open ended questions in meetings
- Customer questionnaire / survey
- Informally, via social media
Top tip: ASK, ASK, ASK!
By asking questions on a regular basis, you are inviting participation from customers. For example, in a Facebook post on a new product or idea, leave an open ended question such as "what are your thoughts?; would this work for you?" to encourage customers to engage in conversation. Ask the right questions to gain the insight you require.
Engaging with customers directly in a meeting as part of a structured review or over the phone also gives the opportunity to ask for invaluable feedback. A very welcome payoff from this would be additional insight that you gain into the client experience that allows you to make improvements to your current customers processes too - bonus!
That's all for today. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks from our free advent calendar.