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Blog posts tagged Customer care
What's your priority - customer acquisition or customer retention?
January 06, 2011
Ok, so that’s a bit of a leading question, but whilst we all know what our answers should be, it’s tempting to focus all of our time and money on acquiring new customers rather than looking after the ones we have. Acquiring new customers satisfies our need to get onto the next thing, it seems exciting and new. But does it make good business sense?
The short answer is no. It can cost you up to six or seven times more to gain business from a new customer than it does from an existing one according to Flowtown. The same blog highlights that you can increase your profits by up to 95 per cent just by improving your customer retention rates by five per cent. That sounds pretty optimistic to me, but even an increase of 20-30 per cent in profits wouldn’t be a bad thing for most businesses.
Your loyal customers will spend more money with you, they cost you less to gain repeat business from, and they’re probably more loyal and less sensitive to price than new customers. So, if retaining the customers you have makes good business sense, then why don’t many businesses put their existing customers at the heart of their marketing strategy?
In the small business world, it’s easy to think that it might be a lack of strategy. Many business owners don’t have a strategy or a marketing plan and will often lurch from advertising to leaflet drops to manic social networking without taking a considered or planned approach. Perhaps that’s a very unfair way of looking at things, but I do believe that without a strategy to retain customers you leave yourself open to losing customers unnecessarily.
That said, big businesses aren’t immune to failing to retain their customers effectively. Talk to anyone renewing their insurance and you’ll wonder whether the insurance companies have even heard of the concept of customer retention. I know that it’s always cheaper for my family to apply to our existing insurance company as a new customer, than it is for us to just renew. How unbelievably inefficient for us all!
Large and small businesses could do well to think more carefully about customer retention. In this age of comprehensive spending reviews and increased efficiency, frankly we could all do with whatever help we can get in leveraging more business from our valuable customer bases. What strategies do you use in your business?
Fiona Humberstone is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and managing director of Flourish.
A Truly Remarkable Business - One Worth Talking About
September 10, 2010
Where there’s a great experience then there’s probably great care.
Just been to Dans le Noir - a truly remarkable restaurant in London (and Paris).
What makes it so special and worthy of mention?
- You eat and drink in the pitch darkness. And it really is dark.
- Serving people are blind or partially blind
- After the meal they tell you what you actually ate!
Just think about it.
The whole concept challenges how you ‘see’ flavours and textures and how you relate to your food. It is mind-blowing. You have to go. It is like no other restaurant. And the “blinded guides” have to care for you while you are totally outside your comfort zone.
The experience is wild and challenging. Spending a couple of hours without any sight makes you re-evaluate your fortune at being sighted, think about what it must be like to be blind, and messes with your palate. You have little idea what you are eating. Crazy. The experience lingers for days.
My point. Dans le Noir is a true experience. You don’t forget it. You tell everyone about it. Remarkable. A business. And it increases public awareness about blindness.
If only more businesses could offer a true experience.
Thank you!
July 06, 2010
We do not say “thank you” enough.
Therefore we take people for granted. If people feel taken for granted they become less loyal. Is that what you want?
I don’t know why people don’t say “thank you” so much these days. Maybe it just isn’t cool to be seen to be thankful.
Maybe it shows vulnerability or frailty to acknowledge that you are grateful.
Or maybe the problem is that most words lose their value and their currency with over-use ("nice", "pro-active", "strategy" to name but a few).
Turning the situation around, I am constantly aware of how certain people seem almost incapable of saying "thank you". Why would that be? Maybe they aren’t grateful(?); but their inability to acknowledge my action actually hurts me.
So, when did you last say (and mean) the words “thank you”?
Your kids, partner, staff, customers, suppliers will all appreciate a sincere "thank you".
The cynical may say that I am just trying to put a deposit in the emotional bank account (or some similar weasel words), but actually I think that it is just basic common courtesy to acknowledge when someone does something for you.
Thank you for reading my blog.
- This article originally appeared on Robert's Bright Marketing blog
Be different: Put your customer ahead of profits
March 22, 2010
OPINION, OR MAYBE EVEN A FACT!: You must be different from the rest.
FACT: We now live in an ‘experience’ economy
In today’s world, the big budget brands are treated with suspicion. They now need to prove themselves. Old World marketing tried to give different personalities to what were essentially similar products. Think of the weak, wet stuff known as lager in the Eighties. Nowadays, customers are inclined to think that if a product looks, sounds, smells, feels and performs in roughly the same manner, then it probably is roughly the same. So, somehow you must create that difference that separates you from all the other similar products.
OPINION, OR MAYBE EVEN A FACT!: Brand preference has always been a function of perception, but now you have to try much harder to create (and maintain) the perceived difference.
The customer’s experience should be made to be unique in tangible, physical ways. A corollary to this is that if your service is intangible then a powerful way of branding yourself is by creating tangible (and ideally memorable) experiences.
HOW DO I DO THAT THEN?: One way to deliver the difference is through the service experience.
‘Doubting Thomas’ consumers demand tangible differences in your product or service.
OPINION: In a world where everyone copies each other, it takes a lot to keep your experience different.
In our novelty culture, it takes even more effort to keep the customer’s experience fresh and surprising. How is this to be done?
Why should people buy from you? Is customer service the silver bullet?
February 23, 2010
FACT: If you are the same as the rest then why should customers bother to buy from you?
SO WHAT?: Ignore the one-liner at your peril! Wake up and smell the coffee!
In a world where competition seems to be everywhere, you need to separate yourself from the rest.
FACT: If you compete on price, only the customer will win – in the end the company with the lowest prices (and biggest buying power) will get the business. This is no place for the timid.
SO WHAT?: If you try to be the same as the rest, a ‘me-too’ business, it is incredibly difficult to survive in the long run. After all, the only way you can differentiate yourself if several businesses are selling the same product will be on price. And if you differentiate yourself on price then it becomes inevitable that you enter a price war – customers will chase the cheapest prices – those businesses with the biggest market share (and economies of scale) will be able to command better prices from their suppliers. As a result, these competitors will be able to pass on those savings to customers while maintaining healthier profit margins than their competition. You will end up cutting your profit margins, probably until you go out of business.
Legendary, remarkable customer service will be your secret weapon.
Your lips are moving, but I can’t hear what you’re saying …
November 24, 2009
In this short video, Tim Smit talks about use of financial jargon and complicated accounting terms which can be overwhelming for the entrepreneur embarking on a new business venture.
Take a few moments to think about how you communicate with clients. Does your business make it easier or more difficult for clients to deal with you? And if you don’t know, why not ask one of your clients!
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