Customer Retention Strategies Cannot Be Ignored in Your Omnichannel Campaigns
Chip Bell, a customer loyalty expert, once said, “Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that your friends do business with you.”
This philosophy is the heart of customer retention.
Once you’ve captured a potential client’s attention and even after they’ve become a qualified lead, keep them coming back to your business again and again.
Retention is simply re-engaging your customers each time they may need your business’s services or products. It builds customer loyalty and can be just as important as customer acquisition.
Why Is Customer Retention Marketing So Important?
Retention marketing strategies maximize the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers. LTV includes any revenue your business has earned from a single client over a period of time.
Retention is important because it can be far cheaper and faster to retain customers than it is to acquire them. In fact, some studies show that retention marketing is six times less costly than acquisition marketing. Why? Because you don’t need to spend time (and marketing budget) on attracting, educating, and converting.
Customer Retention Strategies for Digital Marketing
Consider these three smart strategies to stay in touch with your customer base.
Engaging Content
Content marketing not only showcases your brand’s personality and tells your story, but it also ensures existing customers consistently think about your products and services. It’s a strong retention marketing tactic, particularly if the content you’re producing is engaging enough to encourage likes, comments, and shares on social media.
But don’t forget about blogging! Not only is keyword-rich content a smart investment in your search engine optimization to help drive organic website traffic, it’s also a great way to encourage customers to revisit your website. You can even use this content for other strategies, like segmented email nurture campaigns.
Segmented Email Nurture Campaigns
If you’re using contact forms on your website, then you have likely been capturing leads, including potential customers’ names, phone numbers, and especially email addresses.
Input that data into a customer relationship management (CRM) system for use with remarketing tactics. One tried-and-true tactic is implementing email marketing campaigns with your in-market audience – those potential customers and existing customers who have purchased goods or services from you before.
Be sure to segment your CRM data into groups based on the services they purchased, the frequency of their purchase, and more, to maximize your results. For example, if you own a car dealership with an extensive used inventory, you might segment your email addresses based on which of your customers previously purchased a used car from you. You can then share used car deals with them by email when they may be in the market to buy another.
Ad Retargeting
Social media advertising and display advertising with a retargeting strategy helps encourage customers to come back for more.
Ensure your retargeting campaigns include unique messaging to draw in existing customers, like special offers or discounts especially for them.
Be sure to consider seasonality in your ad retargeting, too. For example, if you own a heating and cooling repair business, you’ll want to retarget your existing customers and social media followers with ads that remind them to have their HVAC systems tuned up before winter or summer.
Other Retention Strategies to Consider
When it comes to retention marketing, digital tactics are a smart use of your advertising budget. But you can extend your strategy to include a number of other solutions, including:
- Customer Loyalty Programs
Offer ongoing perks for returning customers, particularly in your retail or service-oriented business, such as discounts after a set number of purchases. - Special Offers
Retarget your previous customers with special offers to encourage them to return to your business or refer a friend to you. - Feedback and Listening
Survey your customers after their service or purchase is complete to glean information about their experience and satisfaction. Listen carefully to what they say and implement it into your standardized practices. Without a customer service mindset, your retention marketing efforts are rendered useless.
Include Customer Retention Strategies in Your Omnichannel Digital Marketing Campaigns
An omnichannel digital marketing strategy reaches your target audience at every point of the marketing funnel and in the iFocus Marketing proprietary digital marketing relay. Be sure your strategy includes retention marketing to recapture in-market audiences and former customers.
To learn what your existing strategy is missing and to see what your competitors are doing, request a free digital audit from iFocus Marketing.
Jenifer Calandra is an award-winning digital copywriter and copy team lead at iFocus Marketing with 12 years of marketing experience. She curates copy from conception to completion, capturing client voices, and building their authority in their industry. Her knack for storytelling is deeply rooted in journalism, and you’ll find her work published in various regional newspapers and magazines. At home, dogs and a never-ending cascade of home-improvement projects rule her life.
