After all, the biggest loss a business can face is a Lost Customer.

Consumer Retention is one thing that pushes your business’s growth to a whole new level. Although you might see your revenues increasing, if people associated with you, especially customers, are not loyal, you might not see that upward moving graph for long.

When we talk about ‘Consumer Retention’ being the ultimate business goal, we set our eyes on people that want to keep purchasing our products again and again. Repeated buying concretizes your consumer base and once you set your foot strong in the market, there is nothing that can uproot that.

Keeping that in mind, we are going to talk about the whole retention strategy. Why is it critical? How can you measure it? Does it really affect your profitability and revenues? We will find out.

What makes Consumer Retention an Important Part of the Business? 

Here is why this part of your business should be on top of your priority.

• Long Term Relationship: No business comes into existence with a thought to exit after one year. It is all about staying there, doing the talk, and making the old and new clients buy our products. If you work on retaining strategies, you can continue to build a relationship with your client. Plus, it has an advantage. If you are unable to attract new buyers, your old customers will aid you in staying afloat and giving out a signal of being a strong brand.
• Reaching New Buyers: While business owners think about spending hefty sums on new marketing strategies, let’s just say you need to spend very little to stick to old clients. ‘Word of Mouth’ is a powerful thing. An individual that keeps on talking about your brand and continues to spread the word will somehow manage to attract more buyers. These are people who wish to try the pleasance that your loyal customer has been receiving all that time. 
• It Costs Less: When you talk about marketing, your business does not need to spend an extra penny where there is no requirement. Yes, we are talking about consumer acquisition; something that businesses keep on trying until they have to bend their knees. It is that point where you get to realize that you should have been thinking about retaining the old ones. It costs you less in talking to old clients. 
• A Form of Feedback: Feedbacks are an important part of the business. What you come to know through customers, you cannot find anywhere else in the world. When you talk to old clients, you come to know about positives, negatives, shortcomings, ways to make yourself better, and whatnot. It is whole feedback from the past that lets you work on the future. We suggest you start retention practices right away and you’d know where you have been lacking in business. 

What are some Strategies for Consumer Retention?

Effective strategies need to be put in place to know about the behavior of your clients. Such strategies allow you to keep track of people who have stayed, left, and show frequent attention. Here are some of these to catch hold of your past customers.

• Award Loyal Customers: They say loyalty cannot be acquired, but it can definitely be earned. With some unique offers, you can make your clients spend the money they weren’t thinking to take out of their pockets. Loyalty Programs are special offers. These can be coupons, discounts, free deliveries/services, gift cards, and more. All these do is push the customer to check what’s in the closet, and boom! A purchase has been initiated. 
• Check Churn Rate: Consumer Churn Rate (CCR) is a record of customers that have stopped buying from your brand over a period of time. It allows you to check whether you had a repeating customer leaving your brand or an individual that just came here one time and never returned. It is essential to know how often and how many people love your product. Identifying the cause will be one step towards decreasing the consumer churn rate. 
• Rare Discounts Work: Not every individual that you are paying attention to is an old one. Some new clients wish to buy products from you only if they get a special deal. Discounts work in a way that makes people get used to your product. Once you have people becoming habitual of your services and goods, you can start diminishing discounts over time. 
• Use Engagement Platforms: We do not need to remind business owners that digital platform is their one sure-shot to reaching clients. People who follow your brand on Instagram will come across forthcoming sales and offers through a post made on the official web handle. Other than that, you can use e-mails regarding your gratefulness, feedback from them offers on the charge, and more. 

What should you not do?

One thing that many businesses fail to deliver is the SPACE that their clients want. As a business owner or a marketing executive, you should not be suffocating the space people are spending their leisure time in.

Supposedly, you are demanding feedback on the play store, official website, social media, and e-mails whenever a user enters the platform. It sometimes backfires in the form of an irritated consumer that does not like to see your name getting popped up everywhere he looks. Instead, you can allow them to create user accounts. But there is a limitation too.

Why User Accounts/Interface Backfires? 

Several brands allow users to create an ID on their website to track how often they have been engaging in their products. That’s a good way to track activities. But at the same time, your business should be looking for the ease of new clients.

One should not have to be forced to create a whole ID just to make one single purchase.

Instead, you should allow people to make a couple of purchases without any interventions. If you see signs of repeated buying, shoot your shot and start telling the client how easy it will get once he enters his information and makes a permanent account on your website.

Again, is Consumer Retention the Ultimate Business Goal? 

Yes, retaining old clients should be, must be, and can be any business owner’s top priority. Yes, new customers are always welcomed but these are the loyal ones that keep you afloat in the dynamic world.