Are you paying attention to your customer retention as much as your customer acquisition?
Attracting new customers might be important for a brand’s growth. However, customer retention strengthens your brand and forms lasting relationships that will support your business in the long run. Existing customers already know about you. Not leveraging their interest and customer experience would be a mistake. As you publish content to attract customers, you should also focus on existing customers and use content marketing for customer retention.
Why are customer retention and loyalty important for a business?
Customer retention is important for three main reasons: reduced costs, higher profits, and increased brand loyalty.
Retaining customers is five times cheaper than attracting and acquiring new ones. This is because existing or previous customers already know about your brand, your products, and your customer service. Meanwhile, new customers would need more marketing budget and effort before they converted.
Customer retention also leads to higher profits. Every repeat purchase, every referral, every exclusive deal taken, every new product bought—all of these count, and all of these can lead to better profits for you and your business.
And lastly, customer retention improves brand loyalty. Your loyal customers can become brand ambassadors themselves, and excellent sources of information for other prospects and customers.
How can you use content marketing for customer retention?
Continue publishing high-quality content
Publishing high-quality content is a must, whether it be for customer retention or more. Create blogs, videos, tutorials, infographics, and more. Let your website be a resource or a well of information your audience can always come to. Apart from fresh ideas, you can also repurpose your content by recreating it in a different format. Or by breaking them down into bite-sized pieces of content that you can share for a more extended period of time.
Make use of clear and engaging onboarding emails
Onboarding emails get your audience started with their customer journey. These emails determine and build the relationship you will have with your customers. According to UserPilot, 63% of customers think onboarding is key to deciding to subscribe to a product. And if the onboarding process is complicated, 74% of potential customers will switch to other solutions.
Make use of infographics in your emails and clear tutorials to help your customers get started. You can even use videos to engage with them and give them all the necessary information. Successful onboarding results in high customer retention rates, so make sure your onboarding emails are the best they can be.
Leverage social media posts
Social media, of course, is an effective way of reaching your audience. However, it’s also a great way to retain your customers and gain their loyalty. You can leverage social media to post tips, FAQs, testimonials, product reviews and features, and more. These kinds of social media posts will help strengthen your relationship with customers and build up the trust that they have in your brand.
Take advantage of personalization
According to Folloze Research and Business Wire, 77% of B2B sales and marketing professionals believe personalized marketing experiences make for better customer relationships. This is because the more you engage with your customers and prospects on a personal level, the more likely it is that they will know that you are authentic as a brand.
Personalization can come in the form of replies, comments, and direct messages on social media. It also includes sending personalized emails to your customers by segmenting your email lists.
Utilize storytelling in your marketing
Storytelling in your marketing efforts is another way to connect with your customers and achieve customer loyalty. This is because storytelling allows you to humanize your brand, while also engaging with your audience.
You can utilize storytelling in case studies, customer success stories, behind-the-scenes looks at your brand, and customer experiences through user-generated content, as well as compelling press releases.
Listen to customer feedback
Of course, listening to customer feedback is important if you’re hoping to retain your customers. Customer feedback matters to other customers and prospects, and it should matter to you as well.
According to Podium, 56% of customers say a company’s response to a review changed their perspective on the business. Customers want to see that you’re listening to them. Send out survey emails, feedback forms, personal messages, and more. They want to see that you’re taking their feedback into consideration when improving or changing your product or service. As opposed to ignoring their comments or not caring about their opinions.
Build an online community
Like customer feedback, building an online community will help you engage with your customers and listen to what they say about your brand. Think of online communities such as social media groups, discussion boards, or other online channels. These will allow your loyal customers to discuss your products and services, learn about exciting new offers, and get exclusive deals. An online community is a great way to retain customers and encourage advocacy.
Keep the buyer’s journey in mind
Of course, with every marketing effort you create for customer retention, you have to keep the customer lifecycle in mind. The buyer’s journey will help you figure out your next steps and smooth your overall strategy.
Here are the stages of the buyer’s journey and a few examples of content marketing for customer retention:
- Awareness stage – Blog posts, press releases, emails, ebooks, infographics, social media marketing
- Consideration stage – Product tutorial videos, product features, blog posts, reviews, testimonials, webinars
- Conversion or Purchase stage – FAQs, video tutorials, blog posts, guides, e-commerce marketing
- Retention or Loyalty stage – Customer onboarding emails, blog posts, guides, newsletters, online communities, forums, webinars, surveys, case studies, social media
- Advocacy stage – Social media communities, exclusive content and offers, referrals, rewards programs, collaboration
Need more help with your content marketing efforts? Twin Rams Media is here to help you attract customers and retain them through your content. Talk to us now and get started.
References:
https://www.keeping.com/content/types-of-customer-loyalty/
https://hiverhq.com/blog/customer-retention
https://thriveagency.com/news/content-marketing-strategy-to-improve-customer-retention/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/content-marketing-retention-loyalty/423930/#close