Dollar for dollar, acquiring new customers is six times more expensive than marketing to existing ones. Yet, many B2B enterprises miss out on opportunities to leverage their customers.
They may worry customers will lose patience with marketing and look to competitors. However, this is self-defeating. Marketing actively to existing customers is crucial to retention.
Retention, in turn, lets you build your reputation for reliability and keeps cash flow consistent.
Let’s look at five of the best ways to increase customer retention through marketing:
1. Segment Your Marketing
Marketing messages only become wearying if they’re irrelevant to the recipient. Content that’s always right on target, on the other hand, stokes your credibility. Segment your email lists and other initiatives so each specific group of customers gets pertinent, valuable content.
2. Monitor Customer Usage Patterns
SaaS enterprises are at an advantage with their ability to observe how customers use a product throughout the lifecycle. Intervene when usage begins to slow down, not after it’s dropped off completely. Note which features are used most often (or not used at all!) to further target content.
3. Solicit Feedback Regularly
Concise, simple surveys issued regularly help you peek into customers’ minds. They may brood silently on a problem if you don’t ask them, but will usually volunteer their concerns if you do. That way, you can step in, resolve issues, and point them to the right resources.
4. Identify Your Super Users
Certain customers are “super users” with a true passion for your product. Give them a social media community and access to special “behind the scenes” content and they can easily develop into brand advocates. Their feedback can be especially illuminating, too.
5. Go from Customer Support to Success
Customer support is reactive, responding to issues as you’re made aware of them. Customer success is proactive, equipping customers with helpful and informative content based on their needs and goals. This requires an ongoing effort to build customer-facing content.
Whether you are dealing in capital equipment or a subscription-based app, the relationship doesn’t end with the sale. These five initiatives will show your customer you’re at their side as they work to obtain greater value from your offerings.
At Amplify, we retain 93% of our marketing clients. Not only do we understand B2B inside and out, we help you retain more of your customers in any industry. Request a consultation to learn more.