CRM: Your Retention Superpower

In today's fast-paced business landscape, customer retention is more critical than ever. It's no secret that retaining existing customers is not only cost-effective but also essential for long-term success. An effective CRM strategy is the cornerstone of this effort, helping businesses build and maintain meaningful connections with their customers by communicating the right ‘thing’ to the right customer, at the right time. Let's delve into why CRM is pivotal and how it is crucial throughout the customer journey and every single customer touchpoint, not just when the relationship is coming to an end.

Customer retention should be a company-wide philosophy. Leaving your retention efforts until a customer has had a bad experience or has decided to leave can be very expensive; at this stage customers have much more bargaining power and you can find yourself applying discounts that can set a precedent for their future purchasing decisions. Customers are extremely savvy and have become skilled negotiators when they know a company wants to retain their business. It’s far too easy for them to jump online and see how your competitors’ offerings compare. Whilst price is a major consideration, customers should have a reason, beyond price, to stay. At every single customer touchpoint - inbound or outbound - during every stage of their interaction with your business, the customer wields the power to decide whether they stay or leave. Even with a subscription product, a decision to leave can be sitting dormant in the customer’s mind until they’re able to leave their contract with little or no penalty. CRM serves as the strategic tool that empowers businesses to influence this decision positively.

Understanding the Customer Journey

From the moment a potential customer becomes aware of your brand, to the final purchase and beyond, each interaction shapes their perception of your business. Mapping this journey, can help to identify opportunities to enhance the customer experience and address any pain points. For example, are there any known issues (either shown in the data or from anecdotal feedback), with your product or service, that can be addressed proactively with comms? Is there an opportunity to address specific issues, needs or audiences using personalisation? Including a survey as part of the welcome/onboarding journey can be a good way to gauge customer sentiment and get valuable feedback to help shape future customer communications or refine the onboarding experience.

Personalisation and Relationship Building

CRM systems enable personalisation on a grand scale. By collecting and analysing customer data, communications and offerings can be tailored to match individual preferences. This level of personalisation can foster a sense of belonging and strengthen the customers’ emotional connection to your brand, making them more likely to stay (I’ll be exploring ways to create an emotional connection with your customers in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!).

Personalisation can include the way that the offering is packaged up as a proposition. I worked with a company who were trying to roll out a piece of (free) technology that customers had to install themselves. Price clearly wasn’t the barrier, so when take up slowed down, we set out to find out why. Anecdotal feedback showed that the remaining customers were much less tech savvy, and the language in the comms, whilst appealing to the more tech savvy early adopters, was just a complicated process wrapped up in ‘confusing’ language to the remaining customers. Communications were updated to show a three step, illustrated process with simplified language and soon, take up was back on track!

Proactive Issue Resolution

Issues and concerns are inevitable in any business. What sets successful companies apart is their ability to resolve these issues swiftly and effectively. CRM systems can flag customer problems and ensure they are addressed promptly, showing customers that their satisfaction is a top priority. As a minimum, customers should be kept informed about the progress of any outstanding issues, including the time to resolve. They should also be supressed from any ongoing marketing activity; the last thing you want to do is talk to customers about the next new shiny thing when they’re in the throes of a complaint! As someone who has been in that very position, my reaction was to create a reminder in my calendar to look for a new supplier as soon as my contract was approaching its end date!

Data-Driven Decision Making

One of the most powerful features of a CRM strategy is its ability to provide insight that can be used across the business. By analysing customer data, businesses can identify trends, preferences, and pain points. This knowledge allows for more informed decision-making, enabling companies to proactively adjust their strategies to better serve their customers. I once worked for a retailer who’s buying team used CRM insight to inform a range review (it was very satisfying to showcase the value of CRM beyond marketing).

The Long-Term Impact

By using data and insight to consistently deliver exceptional experiences at every customer touchpoint, you not only retain customers but can, done effectively, also create brand advocates who can drive referrals and positive word-of-mouth. Understanding your most valuable customers and what they ‘look like’ can also help inform an acquisition strategy that will attract more of the same loyal customers, making the job of retention easier. What do your most loyal customers like about your product or service?

In conclusion, customer retention should be a central focus for any business; it's not a one-time effort but a continuous journey. At every interaction, inbound and outbound, your customers evaluate whether to stay or leave. Embracing CRM as a strategic tool can ensure that each touchpoint reinforces a decision to stay and can help to lower retention costs.

Thanks for reading, if you’d like to have a chat about your retention strategy and how CRM can help, please don’t hesitate to send me a message.

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