Why your marketing should focus on retaining your fans

Acquiring new customers is a driving force that motivates all companies.

However, for a business to thrive, it must eventually shift its focus to retaining the customers it's acquired, rather than only landing new ones.

A client or customer who stays with your company over time gives you the chance to provide more ongoing value, develop more personalized content, nurture a brand advocate, gain referrals and earn positive word-of-mouth marketing.

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Plus, it costs less to retain an existing customer than it does to acquire a new one, making it a smart move for your bottom line to keep current customers coming back.

The facts of customer retention

Research has shown that a 5 percent increase in customer retention rates can increase profits by anywhere from 25 to 95 percent. In addition, not only does it cost five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one, but it also costs 16 times more to get new customers to the same spending level as existing ones. Despite all this, less than a third of business leaders consider customer retention a priority.

That could be due, in part, to the fact that the strategies for retaining customers are very different from the ones used to acquire new customers. While customer acquisition relies on your ability to reach and attract new audiences, customer retention is more about ongoing engagement, personalization and value provided over time.

By analyzing factors like purchase history, search history, and customer feedback, you can implement marketing tactics that better facilitate engagement using personalized content that delivers value—targeting your customers and clients with better messaging around the products and services they're already interested in.

People want to work and spend money with brands that make them feel special. At a time when customers are looking for ways to meet their needs in faster, easier and less expensive ways, your ability to keep them feeling important via highly targeted, customized messaging and offers will be key to retaining their business.

4 Tactics for Retaining Clients and Customers

Shifting your marketing strategy to retaining customers doesn't mean you won't get any new ones, but it does give your company a way to turn existing customers into advocates who can help drive acquisition.

For your company to shift its focus and retain customers, it must rethink customer relationships and take advantage of marketing tactics designed specifically to engage its existing clients and customers. Here are four ways to get started:

1. Email marketing

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to retain customers. Ongoing email engagement is a solid part of any marketing strategy, so share new content, relevant offers and updates as they're available. For customer retention specifically, consider strategies that contact your customers when they're about to run out of your product, when they leave items in their cart, when it's been a while since their last transaction or on a special occasion to deliver a unique promotion.

2. Customer appreciation

Many companies host some form of a customer appreciation day or week that gives their loyal customers the chance to save on products they know and love. This can be helpful for giving customers even more reason to continue purchasing and demonstrating that you value what they do for your company.

Another good way to show your appreciation for your clients and customers is to engage them in a fun contest and reward their participation.

3. Content optimization

Customer retention is about more than just the products and services you offer—it's about the experience you provide for your customers. Organizing and optimizing your website content to easily provide additional information and education about your products, services and industry as a whole will make you a trusted resource for customers.

4. Loyalty and reward programs

Everyone loves a good rewards program. Earning points toward free stuff, discounted rates and upgrades to current purchases is a great way to get your customers coming back to you to meet their specific needs. Referral rewards are another way to encourage customers to get the most out of your products and services and continue working with you. Plus, by rewarding current customers who refer new users, you can encourage customer retention and acquisition at the same time.

How are you working to keep your most loyal fans, PR Daily readers?

Stacey Wonder is a content marketer for EssayTigers. A version of this article originally appeared on the Influence & Co. blog.

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