Here are the facts:
- Your existing customers are 14 times more likely to buy from you than a new customer.
- Attracting new customers costs nearly seven times the amount it does to retain an existing one.
So how do you get and keep more customers at lower costs? The trick is to focus less on advertising and more on customer retention, leveraging your existing customers to bring in new ones.
Surveys show that 73% of satisfied customers will recommend your service to others, and positive testimonials from existing customers are far more likely to influence people than a brand’s own marketing messaging. In other words, your existing customers are a goldmine. They require less investment, they buy more, and they bring new customers with them.
Here are a few tips on customer retention.
Use a Mobile App Retention Tool
Apps help you keep a pulse on your customers through advanced analytics. Track in-app activity to see the type of content that’s drawing users most. View demographic info that helps you refine your sales and marketing efforts. And most of all, use features like geofenced push notifications, mobile newsletters, and loyalty programs to keep your customer base thriving.
Adapt or Die
Don’t sit on your data—adapt and evolve according to the trends you uncover. Do you know why Richard Branson, the billionaire owner of Virgin Atlantic Inc., lost to the venture capitalists in the Silicon Valley when he tried to go head-to-head with Uber? One simple reason: Uber was backed by an algorithm, by data. Analytics turned Google from good to great and Uber from an audacious venture to the peer-driven giant in transportation. The companies introduced their service, gathered the data, then used it to refine based on customers’ needs.
Focus on Customer Service
97% customers see customer service as the most important factor when choosing a brand. And after signing up, customer service weighs most heavily on customer satisfaction and net promoter score—or the likelihood that they’ll recommend your brand to someone else. On average, a user contacts customer service about 65 times per year, and 62% would leave their provider because of poor customer service. Companies can avoid that fate by making their customer service experience overly simple. Apps with quick contact buttons and sites with digestible help centers reduce customer effort, reflecting positively on your brand as a whole.
Does Retaining Customers Matter in the App Industry?
As an app provider, you may wonder how beneficial user retention really is to your bottom line. After all, deleting an app is easier than installing one—it requires little to no effort to part ways. But as it turns out, app users are far more likely to depend on the apps they already use than to shift to new ones. In some ways, it’s a winner-takes-all market, and the best way to reach new customers is through old ones. Word-of-mouth marketing helps you cut through the noise of an overly saturated app store and reach new users directly. The more you up your retention, the wider your potential user base grows.