Six Customer Retention Strategies that Can Be Used In Business

LECTURE NOTES CREDIT HOURS : 3 CREDIT SEMESTER/SESSION : 4th SEMESTER, 2022/2023 SESSION TOPIC : BUSINESS MARKETING CHAPTER 1 – SIX CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES THAT CAN BE USED IN BUSINESS A. Introduction Customer retention is the various actions that companies take to keep customers using their products or services. The surprising thing is, not all businesses prioritize customer retention. Based on data from Forbes, in 2012 many businesses prioritized driving sales, while customer loyalty came last. Retaining customers is one of the most important things in running a business. Therefore, you must know the best customer retention strategies that can be implemented. For those who don't know, customer retention is an effort to keep customers who have already bought your product to continue making transactions. Launching CrazyEgg, this effort is done so that the company gets profit and does not need to spend more money to get new customers. B. List of Customer Retention Strategies 1. Create a referral program The first strategy to increase customer retention is to create a referral program. This program will be very beneficial for both parties. An example of its application is when they buy something and give a referral code to a friend who will also make a transaction, each party will get a promo. For example, the person who gives the code gets a gift card that can be used to buy something, then the party who uses the code will get a discount on their first purchase. You can retain old customers, get new customers, and then the person who makes the transaction also gets a reward and will be moved to shop again. 2. Start a subscription program You can also start a subscription program with exclusive content for existing customers. No need to spend money like the previous strategy, this program can still increase customer retention rate and sales growth. When creating a subscription program, make sure you and your team research what your customers really want. That way, the content provided will also be appropriate and targeted appropriately. 3. Pay attention to brand differences with competitors The next strategy to increase customer retention is to emphasize the differences between your brand and competitors. In this ad, the PC is portrayed as rigid and incompetent. On the other hand, the Mac actor has a cool and reliable personality. They even talk about why Macs are a better choice compared to PCs. The ad creates a clear divide between Apple and its competitors, by showing the image of customers buying the brand's products. 4. Make sure the service is on the right platform Another strategy that can help increase customer retention rate is to provide services on the right platform. One of the things that shows that your brand understands customers is by knowing where they spend the most time. That way, if at any time there is a problem, you can provide notifications and services to customers on that platform. 5. Focus on personalization As a customer, you don't really like automated messages that seem rigid and make you feel like you're talking to a robot, right? Therefore, to increase customer retention, you can use a personalization strategy. Let's say you decide to serve your customers via Twitter. Every mention and DM that comes in, try to reply according to individual problems. Don't let your brand's reply use a template and seem like a computer. 6. Maximize user or customer comfort The last strategy is to provide extra comfort for your loyal customers. Not only will it increase customer retention, but also customer loyalty. One Indonesian brand that uses this strategy is Go-Jek, especially in its food ordering service, Go-Food. Previously, you could only order Go-Food to be delivered at home, paying with GoPay or cash. Now, you can pay with GoPay directly at the restaurant, and even order food from the app to be picked up directly at the restaurant.