Customer loyalty plays a significant role in business success – so much so that increasing customer retention by just 5% can boost profits by as much as 95%. Yet, with major players like PayPal losing customers, retaining customers is growing increasingly difficult.
With fierce competition and growing expectations, building a set of loyal consumers is more important than ever before. But to get them to stay, you first need to understand what’s making them stray in the first place.
So, without further ado, let’s delve into the top five reasons why your customers aren’t coming back.
1. Your Product or Service Isn’t Good Enough
Without a winning product or service that solves a market need, your customers have no incentive to return to you each day, week, or month. Whether boasting the best features in the market or offering the most value, your product or service should be simply irresistible to your customers.
While your products and services don’t necessarily have to be better than your competitors, a unique edge will help you to stand out from the crowd. Getting ahead of your competitors means being innovative and entrepreneurial by finding out exactly what your customers want and need. This leads us nicely to reason two…
2. You’re Losing Touch with Your Customers’ Needs
Without customers, you’d have no business. Listening to your customers and finding out what makes them tick is key. And we don’t mean guessing the top item on their wish list, we mean opening a dialogue with them to find out first-hand.
While this isn’t always easy, there are plenty of ways to find out what your customers want. Whether conducting market research or putting yourself in their shoes on social media forums, it’s time to think and act like your customers. This means asking for feedback in any way, shape, or form.
This could include:
• Using social media to engage with your customers
• Conducting surveys to find out what your customers think
• Using social media to engage with your customers
3. You Aren’t Consistent Across Platforms
If your messaging and correspondence isn’t consistent, confusion can kick in pretty quickly. Consistency has two major benefits:
Identity
Consistent branding ensures your business is easily identifiable. With memorable messaging and a uniform tone of voice across all mediums, you’ll stay at the forefront of your customer’s minds and be the first point of call for any products or services needed.
Trust
While confusing correspondence throws doubt into situations, consistent messaging has the opposite effect. Consistency shows audiences that they can trust you and convinces them that your products are worthy of investment.
You’re Not up with the Trends
Though it’s easy to feel a little averse to new marketing methods and consumer trends, both are incredibly important to stay up to date with. Many consumers are led by trends and, quite simply, if your business doesn’t keep up with them, you may find customers searching elsewhere for the products they want and need.
Trends offer a great insight into what your customers really want and therefore make it easy to stay in touch with your customers’ needs.
Your Customer Service Isn’t up to Scratch
Good customer service is a vital part of any business. According to Help Scout, up to 93% of customers will make a repeat purchase from companies that nail their customer service. Surprisingly, 78% of those customers will continue to transact even after a mistake. By making your customers feel valued and listened to, you’ll have the opportunity to cut down costs and increase customer retention.
But listen… By good customer service, we don’t mean exchanging a pleasant email or two. And we don’t mean overlooking a poor review in favor of a more positive one. We mean taking the time to listen, reflect and adjust our processes to meet the needs of our customers – no matter how inconvenient this might be for us. The end goal is to put the customer at the forefront of operations, making them the focus of everything we do, and delivering exceptional experiences every single time.
When you’re ready to listen to your customers and put their needs above your own, we’re here to help – let us know.
Customer Retention
If your customers aren’t coming back, one thing is for certain: something has to change. By taking the time to understand your customers and develop a unique product or service offering, you’ll lead with value and reliability, the key to customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty.
