Have you heard of the saying that it’s harder to maintain than to attain? This rings true for customer retention as well! With a wide number of competitors becoming increasingly social media savvy, keeping a strong and growing fan base does present new challenges. What are some methods you can adopt to convince, convert, and retain for the long haul? Read on to find out!
1. Share their images to strengthen the relationship
As a consumer, nothing beats the feeling of being recognized by a brand you support. Business owners, leverage on this mentality! It’s a good idea to share photos of your customers on your social media pages. This establishes your brand as one that values and cherishes your band of supporters, and also makes your customers feel positive about the moment of fame received! Encourage your customers to tag your brand name on their social media pages for your team to locate and reward them easily.
2. Keep them keen with loyalty schemes
In the midst of acquiring new customers, don’t forget about your old fan base! According to Social Media Today, it is 7 times cheaper to retain an existing customer, than it does to engage and convert a new customer! Existing consumers are also 1.5 times more likely to try new products and services as compared to new ones. They also contribute more to your revenue by spending 31 % more on average, as compared to newly acquired customers! As such, creating loyalty schemes that reward your existing customers as VIPs is paramount to your expansion!
3. Be concise with content that value-add
With the influx of live videos that do not go to the point, and long-form content filled with superficial information known by the majority of the readers, our era has reached new heights of content overload. It happens on social network, communications and marketing channels, and continue to occur even as you read. How then can you set your brand apart in these mediums of overflowing information?
The key lies in being concise and direct. This does not necessarily translate to sparsely written content where brevity is the only objective. Rather, it is content constructed with the desires and attention span of its readers in mind, content that with the right amount of knowledge to value-add, and yet the right dosage of entertainment to draw them in and keep them reading. Cut out the convolution and go for powerful and evocative communication instead!
4. Know what your customers want and personalize your materials to suit those wants
One golden rule of communication is that listening and speaking come in equal parts. Social listening is a vital component of your social media activity! Monitor which products and services are garnering the most attention, and what your customers are speaking about them. Encouraging reviews is another method of eliciting valued information from your consumers. Understanding their consuming habits and behavioral patterns would assist you greatly in fine-tuning your approaches in casting your marketing net.
Providing exceptional customer service is another method to directly engage with and understand your customers. Reply promptly to queries and show your customers that their interests are valued. According to The Social Habit, a third of the customers look forward to a reply within 30 minutes after an inquiry has been posted. Another 42% of them anticipate an answer within the next hour. 57% of these customers also expect response speed during night time and over the weekends to be comparable to regular working hours. To satisfy the expectations of these customers is the first step to winning them over.
5. Seize the right time of the day for engagement
When are the best times to gain readership for your material? Try 7.30-9.30am in the morning, and 6-7pm in the evening. Doing so will help you capture bored commuters on the way home, scrolling through the social media platform for entertainment. Besides these golden periods, weekday lunchtimes and weekend mornings are also ideal for the dissemination of information!
