9 effective ways to retain your customers and make them crave for your product

Tony, a carpenter friend of mine once asked me how he could win back customers he had lost and at the same time keep the ones he had. Without a second thought, the first question I asked him was the reasons he lost his customers and the effective ways he could use to retain the ones he had at that period. My confused friend thought for about 10 minutes but didn't provide an appropriate answer to the questions asked. Most companies that have gone into extinction didn't experience a downfall in just one day. It was a result of consistent failure to attract customers, retain them and make them loyally crave for their product or service. But, customers can't be retained by magic or by simply asking them to stay, some factors must be present in your system as an organization to make the one-time buyer vow his or her loyalty to your product. Little wonder some really old products are still craved after by millions of people all around the world. Have you ever wondered how they've been able to grow their customer base despite several periods of economic inflation and deflation? Well, I believe they've been able to achieve what hundreds of companies couldn't all because they have built their brands to becoming irreplaceable which has automatically helped them to retain and make customers crave their product. As an entrepreneur who is looking forward to making more sales and retain existing customers, I would advise you not to assume you've known it all but fully embrace these 9 powerful tips.

1. Excellent customer service

American Express reported that 58% of customers are willing to continuously patronise companies with exceptional service towards their customers. This implies that to retain your customer, you must strive to become exceedingly more helpful and friendly to your customers. How can you do this? The first thing is to have a pleasant attitude towards every customer whether they are poor or rich. Most organizations have lost potential customers due to representatives' bad way of responding to customers. When you make your potential customers feel respected and cherished at every meeting with you, they are more likely to come back some other time. Another easy way to improve your customer service and retain them is to create quick solutions to their problems in a friendly manner. Customers don't like it when you grudge before helping them solve any problem caused as a result of patronizing you. Even if customers are stating the obvious which might make things complex for you, the most advisable thing to do is to listen (customers love to feel they are being listened to) and explain why things turned out a certain way. Create an immediate solution or promise to fix the problem after some hour or minutes (make sure you fulfil your promise and if you can't, kindly send a message apologising for the time extension). Note that most customers tend to be very impatient when they have problems that have to remain unsolved for a while. In order not to lose your customers as a result of this, try as much as possible to fix your customers' problem within a reasonable period. In addition, taking a long time before responding to your customers' request can also turn them away from your product. It will only take a very loyal customer to wait for days before their request is being granted. Many customers don't care whether you're busy with other customers or not. They want their things done right away so coming up with an excuse every time will make them look for an alternative brand. Consequently, customers tend to never come back after experiencing a better service. However, if you provide fantastic customer service you will retain more customers, which will eventually encourage them to introduce your products to their friends, and make them crave your product or services.

2. Provide values at all times

This is when you provide something that is highly desired by your customers. Providing value isn't as easy as it seems. The first thing you need to do is to find out what you can offer your customers that will complement your product. You can find out by checking out what competitors are doing differently, think of a way to offer something more valuable than what the competitors are offering your target audience. You do not need to run into debt to provide values to your customers. Provision of value can be in the form of enlightening your customers on how to solve some daily problems (make sure it must be relevant to your product/service). For instance, assuming you own a fashion store where you sell unisex outfits, how can you provide value to all your customers without having to spend a penny? This is simple, you can do that by simply providing tips on how to combine outfits for different occasions, how your customers can maintain their fabrics, how your customers can make their old clothes look new etc. Remember not to make the mistake most business owners make by asking your customers to buy from you every time you give out free tips. What's the consequence of doing this? Many of your customers won't read your content anymore because they would have had the impression that you're always after their money. You can also add value by giving out entertaining contents. This will help you retain your customers because they won't only see you as a seller, they will consider you as a friend. So whenever you put out an advert on products for sale, they tend to patronise you without having to question your product.

3. Maintain your product quality

Yotpo stated that 55.3% of customers remain loyal to the brands they love. This means that if customers don't like your product, they won't come for it. One of the main reasons customers come back after their first patronage is that they love the previous service. No one would be willing to buy a product they can get a better version of at the same price. Oftentimes, most customers don't care if there is economic inflation or not all they want is that same quality. But when they don't get the quality they crave, you automatically lose them. Like my friend Tony, his marketing strategy was to provide his best at the first and second contracts but lower the product standard in subsequent patronage to make more profit. How did that turn out for him? He lost a whole lot of customers who could have not only kept craving for his product but would have introduced some of their friends to patronise him. You wouldn't want to end up like my friend, to prevent this, you must maintain the quality of your product because it could be the only reason some customers are still patronising you.

4. Improve, improve, improve

Most business owners find it difficult to improve the quality of their product. However, this is very essential because hundreds of brands will come up in no time with better product quality to beat your product in the market. How do you prevent this from happening? Make a list of three things about your product or service you can afford to improve on. Giving discounts every time might affect your cash flow so you don't have to go out of the line to please your customers; thereafter run into debt. Now, ask yourself the 3 things you can work out well to prove to your customers that your product is the most superior. For example, assuming you own a restaurant, you can improve your interior design or make your environment neater, work on your brand package( you can decide to use more fancy shopping bags for your customers ), upgrade your customer relations service (it could be to start becoming more friendly to your customers etc). If you can be three times better than you were, I assure you of a significant increase in your customer base. However, in some cases, you might have to spend a reasonable amount of money to improve your product. For example, as a restaurant owner, you can add more ingredients to make your meal more delicious to create irresistible unique tastes that customers will always crave. The fantastic fact about improving your product quality is that you can easily increase your charge and still retain your customers.

5. Reward and gratification

While providing value is often opened to every customer. Customers reward and gratification is an act of compensating loyal customers. CallMiner said companies tend to lose 30% of their customers who get no reward for being loyal. A provision store that is very close to my residence did an incredible thing sometimes last year. The owner compiled the names of their frequent customers and summoned all of them to come to pick up different types of valuable gifts. What would be your reaction if you were in their shoes? You will feel appreciated and of course continue to patronize them. As a business owner, since you've won the heart of your customers, you've succeeded in retaining them so you can rest assured that they are yours. Appreciating your loyal customers makes your customer know their presence is important. This will compel a whole lot of your customers to be eager to walk miles away from their comfort zone to reach out to you. The secret here is that you are more likely to lose customers that feel less or not appreciated.

6. Build trust

Your customers must have confidence in your service if you truly want to retain them. If you can successfully make your customers trust you, you will be in charge and make them crave for just your product at all times. Over the years, we've seen numerous brands that have dominated the global market. The reason for their growth is not because people are being forced to patronize. It's simply because the majority trust their brand to be good and harmless. One of the ways you can build trust is to post customers testimonials on your website or different platforms. It makes other users trust your product more and come back to buy from you. Moreover, when your customers trust you in terms of product quality, customer service etc, it makes it easier to retain your customers and make your customers crave both your new and existing products.

7. Be consistent

Genesys said 7 out of 10 customers prefer interacting with the same employee or agent of the companies that attend to them. It implies that if they have to speak with new employees every time they come to your store, they might stop coming over. Raphael my colleague at work, once told me that he buys his goods from a particular supermarket because their three attendants are beautiful and respectful. What do you think would have happened if the employee fire them or they have to leave for some reasons? My colleague is likely to stop patronising them. As business owners, you need to know how human psychology works. Some customers hate it when their sellers are not consistent with their charges, policies, location, employees etc. To retain your customers, you have to try as much as possible to stick to the usual way you operate unless a change is really necessary and will be beneficial to you and your customers.

8. Give your full attention

Many business owners are leaving a whole lot of money on the table whenever they pay little or no attention to their customers. This is because a customer who feels he wasn't regarded will search for your competitors who are willing to listen to them. Giving full attention and listening to customers' needs is a very effective tool for retaining your customers. Allow your customers to share their knowledge about your product, contribute to issues related to your product etc. By doing this, you will know their expectations, fears and what excites your customers about your product. The knowledge of this as a business owner will enable you to over-deliver, that is, beating your customer's expectations.

9. Take action

A whole lot of companies only carry market surveys but eventually fail to take action according to the data they've gathered. Therefore, the best thing to do as a business owner is to take action before your customers start complaining about your product. But in case your customers personally detect a problem, you need to take a shift action to get the problem solved to retain your customers.

The above explained points, if maximally explored would help retain your customers and increase your customer base exponentially.

Written by:
Olamide Akinde

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