Acquiring new customers is 25 percent more expensive than retaining a new one. Despite this reality, a lot of businesses still lose around 20 percent of their customers every year simply because they failed to nurture their relationship with their customers.

It’s a fact that businesses lose some customers along the way, but only a few are taking notice. Before they knew it, the loss has cost them millions of dollars in sales. If worse comes to worst, the business can die if there’s no real growth after a number of years.

The only way to keep your company growing is to keep your customers while gaining new ones, and the formula for this is surprisingly simple and easy.

The Best Strategy for Customer Retention

Chip Bell—entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the book “The 9 ½ Principles of Innovative Service”—said that the best strategy of keeping your customers is to get them involved in your business.

The advice makes so much sense considering the fact that any person who has invested a lot on something (whether it be their time, money, or effort), will have difficulty abandoning it. The best part about it is they become your advocates and spokespeople.

Aside from growth, a business can get so many other benefits when they involve their customers. A study conducted on the benefits of customer involvement has led to the creation of new and innovative services. The study also pointed out that the service innovations suggested by customers are more useful and creative than the ones suggested by product experts.

Putting the Strategy to Work

Now that we have established the importance of customer involvement in customer retention let’s talk about the different and creative ways to do that.

Create a forum where customers can participate

Forums act like virtual town hall meetings where every person has a voice, where no opinion or suggestion is insignificant. It is also a platform where people can freely ask any question about the company/business.

This practice boosts trusts because people know their opinions matter and they are not just merely another sales figure. When you gain a person’s trust, you also gain their loyalty.

Ask for feedback on how to improve the customer experience

Richard Branson is an excellent example of this. He has been known to phone a customer and ask if he has any grievance or complaint about the company.

What benefit did he gain from it?

The customer couldn’t get over the experience that the Virgin CEO had called him. He bragged about the experience to his friends and family. He unknowingly became a raving fan and an advocate for the company.

Smart Tip:
Xeno allows any employee to proactively chat with leads or customers, even the CEO, thus personalizing the customer service experience even more.

Invite customers to company parties and events

You can use this as a bonus for your premium members. Whether or not they can make it to the event, the thought that you went out of your way to invite them to join you is heartwarming. It makes them feel like they are part of a family, and who turns away from their family, right?

Thinking Long-Term

Customer retention is the key to the long-term success of your business. Thus, make sure that your customers always have an exceptional experience with your brand and service by involving and monitoring them regularly. You’ll be surprised not only at your growth but also at how much you can save.