Being a small business owner, you know the real value of loyal customers. They are the best customers that prefer your business over your competitors and refer their friends and colleagues.
A study says that on average, US businesses lose half of its customers every three years. There are many factors such as economic climate, product quality, out of stock products, and more.
There are some other factors that can have a great influence on your business growth and if these issues are not taken into account at the right time, chances are your customers leave.
Poor Customer Service
Nowadays customers have very high expectations with businesses especially when it comes to customer service. This is why, big brands like Apple and Amazon mainly focus on providing excellent customer service to retain their customers. Small businesses and mid-size companies should adapt the same strategy to flourish. These big brands also shown that focusing on your customer service will lead to a more successful business and higher customer retention rate.
But how do you provide better customer service? It’s all about responsiveness, consistency and trust. A one bad experience of a customer and you will lose that customer for life. Every single interaction a customer has with your company should convince them to prefer your business again. So, solve your customers issues quickly and make them feel valued.
Not Offering Customer Loyalty Programs
Besides offering outstanding customer service, your small business also need to incentivize your customers and give them a reason to keep preferring your products over the competition. It’s simply can’t enough to capture their attention by offering discounts and special offers, offer immense value so that they will continue to do business with you.
Customer loyalty programs can work best in this regard. Make your customer feel valued by featuring them in newsletters, mentioning on your Facebook page, sending greetings and asking for their valuable feedback in order to improve your products or services.
Offering Discounts but Not Value
To flourish your web design agency in this fierce business world, offering low price is indeed a wise idea. But maintain your position as a low-cost business is difficult as it reduces your profit margins. Moreover, your competitor will steal your customers by offering more discount offers.
A wiser approach is to focus on quality of your products and services. Customers prefer businesses that not only offer quality products, excellent customer service, accessibility and more value.
Ignoring Technology
Believe it or not, technology has now become a critical ingredient of customer retention. Lack of easy payment options, a checkout process that takes forever are the major reasons of shopping cart abandonment. Customers have high expectations with your business, poor technology can make your customers to leave.
It is recommended to design a friendly website that has an easy navigation and can be accessible to many devices. For this, make your website mobile-friendly and intuitive. Find as many opportunities as you can to improve your products and services.
Not Incentivize Your Employees
Employee satisfaction is critical for customer satisfaction. If your employees are not happy, then how can you expect them to keep your customers happy. Make sure you reward and appreciate your employees to make them feel valued. When they are engaged at work, they can take care of customers in the best possible way. In fact, happy staff lead to satisfied customers.
Final Words
It is far better option to keep your existing customers than to attract new ones. So, focus on customer retention. Avoid making these mistakes and start building customers trust and loyalty. However, it takes time and a consistent effort, but it is well worth.