A business won’t thrive without the presence of its customers. If you are losing a considerable number of clients each month, it only means that your churn rate is high. But what is a churn rate and why is having a high rate bad for business?
Your churn rate, also known as your customer attrition rate, refers to the percentage of the clients you have lost within a quarter. The higher your churn rate, the higher the number of unhappy customers who leave your business. Once you reach a 10% churn rate, it only means that you need to start reconsidering how you handle your clients. While it is true that client acquisition is good for business growth, all of these will be wasted efforts if you fail to retain them.
Wonder how you can combat a high customer churn rate? Here are five suggestions:
Investigate the reasons customers are leaving
Before you draft a strategy, you should first learn the main reasons you fail to retain your clients. The easiest and fastest way to do this is by asking your customers directly. You can choose to send them an email or, better yet, give them a call to show that you truly care about them. While it is true that surveys can help you find out their reasons for leaving your business, you’ll find immediate answers if you call them instead.
Always keep an open line of communication
Effective communication helps boost brand loyalty. If you fail to respond to customer inquiries on time, then you’re not giving them a good impression. Remember that communication is a two-way street. It is not enough that you ask yes-no questions. Stick to open-ended questions, and you’ll eventually receive a response that can help you improve how you do your business.
Host customer appreciation parties
Business can choose to host many events. While most prefer networking, trade shows, press conferences, and incentive events, what you need in times like these is a customer appreciation party. Show your most valuable clients that you appreciate them staying and doing business with you. Don’t forget to plan the event out and make sure to engage with them before, during, and after the event. By hiring an event entertainment company in Dubai, you can ensure that each of your guests will find it hard to miss and forget your party.
Offer a hard-to-turn-down incentive
Customers want to get the most out of their hard-earned cash. Even if they are leaving your company for good, you can still persuade them to change their minds by offering an attractive incentive. Let’s say that you offer membership services and a client wish to cancel their subscription. If you offer them a huge discount or a free upgrade for the next subscription, you can change their minds and make them stay loyal to your brand.
Don’t slack and stay competitive
Just because you’re busy finding ways to achieve a more desirable churn rate doesn’t mean that you can go easy on your competitiveness. To stay relevant, make sure that you keep an eye on the market, the latest marketing trends, as well as your competitors. If you don’t want your competitors to get ahead of you, make sure that you keep yourself updated.
There is no business that hasn’t lost a single customer. But that doesn’t mean that you can turn a blind eye and simply let your business lose some of your most valued clients. Keep this list in mind, and you can start retaining more customers while you increase your customer base.