Most marketing activity is still focused on attracting customers. Look at all the deals on TV subscriptions, utility services, mobile phones, insurance and banks. They are all deals set up to attract new customers.
But what if you turned your marketing investment on its head? What if you said that your primary aim wasn’t to gain as many new customers as possible, but was to keep as many existing customers as possible? What different things would you do?
My guess is that your first action would be to understand why customers left you in the first place. Only then could you take the action necessary to reduce the rate of lost customers.
At one client, for instance, management found that invoicing errors and incomplete order deliveries were the biggest drivers of customer defections. Once they addressed these issues customer retention increased. Not only that, but, over time, the company also began to attract more new customers who had previously been put off by the company’s reputation for poor service.
So, how about you? Do you really understand why your customers leave you? And do you know what actions you could take today to reduce their chances of doing so?
© Stuart Cross 2015. All rights reserved.