For businesses of every sector, type, and industry, customers drive so many facets of their business– clients push enterprises to innovate their products and learn new strategies. Customers are the key to making enterprises better in every aspect. Hence businesses should always important to prioritize customer retention no matter what’s happening economically, but during a downturn, this becomes the number one focus.
CMOs need to ensure that they implement effective customer acquisition and retention strategies to attract and retain customers for a longer period of time. In times like the economic downturn, retention has to become the top priority. When businesses are staring down the barrel of an unpredictable economic recession, they have to remember that it costs more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one.
“Providing amazing customer experiences during a recession comes down to a few things: being proactive, creative, and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the customers are successful. All businesses are doing more with less right now, and the need to wow the customers with the above-and-beyond partnership is bigger than ever,” says Dan Darcy, Qualified’s Chief Customer Officer.
It can be scary to rock the boat internally and shift resources away from acquisition to focus on retention, but successful customers survive recessions, and they’ll remember which companies were part of their winning strategies when it comes time to renew and expand. Following are a few strategies that businesses can consider to retain existing customers and reduce churn rates amidst an economic downturn:
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Investigate the reason for customer attrition and make strategic changes
Irrespective of the customer retention strategies embraced by the enterprises, a few clients might desire to leave the brand’s services for various reasons. However, this doesn’t mean that enterprises cannot win their clients back and gain their trust and loyalty. According to the recent report published by Oracle titled “Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX),” nearly 78% of the respondents believed that the brands could do more to deliver better customer service and happiness to their customers. Give the success teams the resources they need to stay ahead of the customers’ needs, listen to their feedback (they have their boots on the ground and hear directly from the most important customers every single day!), and reward big ideas and experimentation.
“Recessions are the time businesses need to go big for their customers to thrive together during these uncertain times. Keeping the success teams happy, well-resourced, and empowered is the key to creating memorable support and experiences for the customers,” adds Dan.
CMOs should consider evaluating their entire customer lifecycle to identify the customer attrition pain points and make strategic changes to increase the retention rate.
Keep the prices competitive
Ultimately, when new business gets harder to acquire, customer loyalty keeps the lights on. Businesses have to position themselves as a line item that cannot be cut out, not just because the product is vital to the customer’s business, but because the solution is undeniably better than any of the competitors, especially ones that are offering a lower-cost option. Right now, the customers are going to bat for every single line item in their budgets. Businesses that keep their prices competitive have to give their clients a reason to keep fighting for them, and that’s by investing resources into their success.
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Walk the extra mile for the clients
Enterprises need to ensure that they are more than what they sell. It is crucial for enterprises of all sizes to make an extra effort to offer extra value to valuable clients and ensure that they feel valued for their business. Many businesses that have effective strategies implemented to suffice customer needs by going the extra mile have witnessed higher customer retention rates and reduced churn rate.
“Now is the time to empower the front-line workers to become true partners to their customers and go the extra mile whenever possible,” adds Dan.
Everybody understands the impacts of an economic downturn and how difficult it can be to survive through it. Businesses need to look out for features they can turn on or leverage to help customers generate more value and implement them to offer better services.
The above-mentioned three strategies will help businesses to retain existing customers and reduce churn despite a tough economy.
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