Marketing for Retention

In designing your marketing strategies most everyone wants to talk about winning that new customer, which is important, but let’s talk, in my opinion, about one of the most important parts of marketing – How do we retain the customers we have?

Customer retention is more than giving the customer what they expect, it’s about exceeding their expectations. Retention is often times the most important part of our marketing and the most overlooked. If we are doing all the right things to bring that new customer in but not doing the right things to retain them we are creating a revolving door. Retention allows us the opportunity to service our customers and meet their needs. It is also our opportunity to make “fans” out of our existing customers; so that they tell their friends about the awesome place they shop or bank. Customer retention has a direct impact on profitability. Some research has indicated that engaged customers generate 1.7 times more revenue than normal customers, while having engaged employees and engaged customers returns a revenue gain of 3.4 times the norm. Retention with both employees and customers is vital. Marketing for retention is marketing outside the BIG box. For a financial institution it might look like serving in your local school system teaching young people how to devise a household budget and the importance of saving or setting up classes or online webinars for newlyweds – teaching them ways to work together financially or working with your local community college teaching young adults how important setting up an IRA can be.

Lastly, are we educating our customers on ALL the services we offer? If someone is doing business with you already, they are the prime customer to market your additional services to; they trust you! Marketers should now see customer retention as a priority instead of a secondary strategy. The key to effective retention lies in understanding and anticipating the needs of our customers and your employees. Setting a strategy for successful customer retention is the first step.

‍