Congratulations! You’ve earned your leads and have successfully converted them to paying customers. That’s it, right? You’re done.
Wrong.
There’s so much more that happens after customer acquisition than just landing that sale. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your customers happy and satisfied with your products and services.
This is why it’s important to pay attention to your customer churn rate.
Customer churn is the percentage of customers that have dropped off or have stopped using your products and services. In short, it’s the number of people who have left the “party.”
For example, this quarter you’ve acquired a total number of 100 paying customers. At the end of the quarter, however, you see that 10 people have cancelled their subscription or ended their contract with you or have straight-up stopped buying your products. That leaves you at a 10% churn rate because 10% of your total paying customers have stopped giving you their business.
With that said, it’s safe to say that businesses should aim for a very low number when dealing with churn rate. As much as possible, you will need to get it close to 0%. We really don’t want to be losing customers, do we?
There are several proven-and-tested strategies that help businesses maintain a lower customer churn. However, it’s important to understand that not all businesses are made the same - so you’ll have to play it by ear sometimes and get a feel of what your customers are loving about your business and what they wish would be better.
We’ve said this once, and we’re saying it again: focus on your happy customers. Rather than focusing your energy on trying to “save” customers that are on the verge of churning, turn to those who are already enjoying your services and boost their loyalty.
This is ideally more profitable than pouring resources on churning customers.
As soon as the churn happens, investigate. Look into what happened, what made the customers churn, and what stage in the entire process they churned.
Staying on top of this data helps you analyze the mindset and decision-making points these churning customers had so you are able to prepare yourself and formulate pre-emptive measures.
It’s 2019, and customers tend to be more empathetic of business who go extra mile in showing them that they actually care. It sounds cheesy, but get that TLC pumped up and make sure your customers know this.
Improve upon your customer service and be more proactive in asking your patrons what they want instead of just responding to their requests. Reach out first; it makes people special!
Set up your email sequence so that you’re engaging them in a meaningful one-on-one conversation, instead of sending periodic promotional emails that make you sound like a business that only wants their money. Be present, communicate, and show your customers you care!
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Do you have any other tips that have worked well for your business in terms of keeping your customer churn rate low? Let us know, we’d love to hear from your first-hand experiences!