Customer Retention is the Key to to a Profitable Business.
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Happy Customers
Everyone who is in business needs a way to keep in touch with their customers. That means your custom greeting card business is perfect for everyone!
In today’s challenging economy and competitive business world, retaining your customer base is critical to your success. If you don’t give your customers some good reasons to stay, your competitors will give them a reason to leave. Customer retention and satisfaction drive profits. It’s far less expensive to cultivate your existing customer base and sell more services to them than it is to seek new, single-transaction customers.
Here are some benefits to keeping the customers you already have vs. bringing in new customers:
- Acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying and retaining current customers
- 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10%
- The average company loses 10% of its customers each year
- A 5% reduction in customer defection rate can increase profits by 25-125%, depending on the industry
- The customer profitability rate tends to increase over the life of a retained customer
The major reason businesses lose regular customers: They just failed to stay in touch with them regularly. Losing customers is completely unnecessary. Don’t let this happen to you!
The new term these days is Appreciation Marketing. This is really nothing new – just keeping a gratitude mentality while marketing your business.
Appreciation Marketing is the glue that holds your business together. It is the personal touch that sets you and your business apart from the competition. It is what causes your customers to loyally keep coming back to you and on top of that, send you great referrals! In this fast paced world we live in, when was the last time you received a real thank you note in the mailbox when you made a purchase? I’d say that showing true appreciation has become a lost art.
Whether you call it customer retention, account management, relationship management, or just staying in touch, developing a strategy so that you don’t lose the customers or clients you have is vital to the success of any business — especially now.
Your past customers are the ones who are most likely to be future purchasers. They’ve already shown they want and like your products or services and are willing to pay.
That means you need a customer retention plan. Keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be costly, time-consuming or difficult. You just need a few simple steps and always make it a priority:
Where do you begin? Here are several tips to help you get started.
- Send a thank you note in the mail after a sale or a meeting.
- Send a thank you gift when someone sends you a referral.
- Send “items of value” on a regular, planned basis. These should not relate to your product or business. It could range from useful, simple tips of about almost anything, to coupons, or informative articles. It could be a recommendation to a great business or service.
- Send birthday cards to your customers and contacts. That will really make their day and set you apart!
Appreciation should happen in 2 ways:
- Automatically - by having a regular system in place that happens whether you are at work or at the beach. This is done quite easily through our Card Sending Program, and is handled all online; all seamlessly. You just log on, select a card; select your customer (or multiple customers) from your data base and with a click, your card is printed with your handwriting font; placed in an envelope; sealed; stamped (real stamp!) and mailed out.
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Keep track of your customers and when you have contacted them. This is easily done through your online contact manager at your Custom Card Business Website. You can even set up reminders to alert you when to re-contact!
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Communicate, communicate, communicate. All of us, myself included, take our customers for granted. As a result, we get so focused on doing our work, that we don’t take enough time out to meet with, talk to, and more importantly, listen to, our customers. Stay in touch. Ask them what they need and want. Be part of their lives and businesses; invite them to be part of yours.
. - Spontaneously - by being open, listening, and in tune to people. Do something special and unexpected for some of your best customers. Send them a small gift. Let them know you appreciate them. Again, this is done through your “online gift store!” You can just send out gifts and cards and make a difference!
And, most importantly, let them know we appreciate them and their businesses. Everyone wants to feel appreciated!
Let’s start making that list and I’ll coach you on how to use our service to enhance your business and/or to provide you an additional income stream.