Prior to Covid back in 2020, everything seemed to be in equilibrium. Prices and interest rates were stable, and the economy seemed to be humming along. Then Covid hit. Society went indoors for almost 2 years and there seemed to be supply chain issues which drove up prices on just about everything. The economy started to skid, and we found the price of things that use to be pretty affordable now expensive. The vast majority Consumers only have so much discretionary income to purchase the goods and services. Consumers then had to decide who they were going to patronize and how much to spend. As a business owner, customer acquisition is also a pain point, and it is truly a trial-and-error process. The focus going into 2023 went from customer acquisition to customer retention.
Recent marketing studies found that customer acquisition costs were rising significantly, and it was simply costing more to attract new customers to your business. We know how cost effective and efficient customer referrals can be to a business with more and more businesses looking to their current customers to help them attract new customers. But how do we do that? What techniques do we use in order to attract new customers to our business at a lower cost than traditional marketing channels? Customer referral campaigns can have a tremendous impact on your business as well as customer loyalty programs. Each of the aforementioned have unique qualities that can help you improve your business profitability and your customer loyalty. Our goal is to help you understand that Customer Retention can help you just as much as Customer Acquisition.
Consumers want to feel appreciated and rewarded for spending their money with your business. Customer service and offering an amazing customer experience is truly the starting point for retaining your customers and helps to gain new customers because consumers have a high tendency to tell others what they have had a good experience with your business and even a bad experience. What’s important is to recognize and understand what types of customers you have and what types of programs resonate with them the most. The best way to find out is to simply ask customers what’s important to them and that is your roadmap to success. As an interview question for determining the pain points for potential customers asking questions such as what has worked for them in the past, have they tried to build their own solution and do they have an actual budget for the issue they are attempting to solve. Understanding these things helps to determine whether your product or service is a good fit for what they desire.
The best way to advertise your business is simply to let existing customers advertise for you through referrals. Give them a tool, ideally web & smart device friendly, that helps them do just that quickly, easily and rewards them. This tactic helps improve customer loyalty, CLTL and improves your profitability.
Today’s consumers truly desire a connection with the brands they engage with. Enhance your customer loyalty program strategies. Brands can achieve more customers signing up for loyalty programs by being flexible in its reward types and the redemption requirements.
Another tactic to enhance loyalty programs is offering exclusivity — ensuring customers feel special and excited to participate.
Let your customers invite and introduce their trusted contacts to your brand. That helps reduce the referred customers vetting time and costs and makes the referrer feel good that they helped someone out. Many consumers feel anxiety in having to find a particular type of business that fits their needs so referrals are more important than ever.
To close, offering your customers an easy-to-use tool to help them engage with your business is the key to creating new and nurturing existing customers. Be mindful of the use of smart devices in that over 85% of Consumers regularly use them to communicate and search out their desired products and services. Be sure to check out Dealsby. Web and App-based solutions such as Dealsby help Small Business owners directly connect with their customers by offering digital referral marketing and customer engagement capabilities. Customer acquisition and customer retention are both vital to a sustaining business and having the right tools is key.
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