Marketing isn’t just about attracting new customers. By shifting your approach you can tap into the power of customer retention to grow your business.

Recently I wrote an article about how to create a trusting relationship between your business and email subscribers. This post continues to expand on this with a focus on maintaining a strong relationship with your customers. Using both the trusting foundation you established from the beginning and by recognizing the importance of the customer retention you have you’ll be able to truly build a business that lasts the test of time.

Isn’t marketing about new customers?

You’ve heard it many times, that marketing is about attracting new customers. This is true and an important aspect of growing any business, but if you’re ignoring what happens after your prospect becomes a customer then you’re missing out on one of the most powerful ways you can increase revenue.

What does customer retention mean?

Retention in this context means that you’re taking actions that keep your customers coming back repeatedly to make a purchase or use your service (or use your service consistently). Retention actually begins after an initial purchase is made. It’s an expanded phase and focus that is part of maintaining that trusting relationship you’ve initially built.

Your goal is to now encourage your customer to return again and again. Then, ultimately you want these customers to actually advocate for your business. Returning customers already know and trust your brand and can share this with others. This is a powerful avenue for creating new profitable relationships and can help you refresh the way you’re approaching marketing.

Is there a difference between loyalty and retention?

Yes, it’s important to consider retention as something repeated. This meaning that you’re able to measure the number of times a customer has returned to purchase something from your business. Loyalty simply means how likely they are to choose your business if they need a service that you offer.

What do I do to increase customer retention?

Start by building a trusting foundation. Then you’re going to need to do a combination of things including segmenting your lists, reviewing your strengths as a business or organization and doing a lot of testing, measuring and analyzing.

Some basic ideas include creating a loyalty program, personalized offers, holiday specials, thank you emails and friendly reminders. Be sure to also include a call to action or interactive content, social proof or even try gamification.

The most important part of building a customer retention program using email is to change the way you think about marketing. The customers that currently make purchases from you are the ones that are actually making your business a success. Focusing on the needs of current customers is time well spent and can lead to big growth for your business.