Bamboo plants have the potential to grow exponentially in a short amount of time once they emerge from the soil. Before they sprout, bamboo seedlings establish strong roots in the earth with little to no signs of growth. Inexperienced planters tend to give up on their efforts with bamboo seeds because there is seemingly no evidence of growth above the surface.
After about three years, when the season is right and a root system is established, bamboo plants burst through the soil and experience incredible growth. They can grow as tall as 90 feet in five weeks! This growth is only made possible by what happened beneath the surface, which plays an essential role once the plant breaks through the surface.
Business growth is similar to bamboo growth. Just as bamboo plants go unseen until they are ready to sprout and grow rapidly, the results of your retention efforts may go unseen until the time is right for your business to boom.
Because retention efforts take time, you may focus more on acquiring new leads than nurturing relationships with current customers. The truth is that a 10% difference in retention can lead to 94% more business growth when other factors remain constant (see the graph below). Thus, retention is the difference between a growing and a dying business. Is your business dying because of your retention rate or are you growing?
Customer Retention Statistics
- 80% of your future profits will come from just 20% of your existing customers.
- The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60% to 70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5% to 20%. (See the above graph.)
- Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more when compared to new customers. (See the above graph.)
- Increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 125%.
- 82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper to execute than acquisition, but that’s not where the company’s budgets and resources are focused.
The Real Goal of Retention
At the end of the day, you’re reaching out to your customers to build strong business relationships with them. You want your clients to think of you any time they need to purchase the product or service you offer. Strong relationships bring loyalty, and loyalty brings retention.
As you connect with your clients through meaningful communication, you build trust. Here are a few ways to earn a customer’s trust:
- Be human
- Be transparent and genuine
- Interact with your customers like they are your friends
- Deliver on your promises
Once customers trust you, they will buy from you again and again without thinking twice. That’s when you reap the rewards of retention and experience massive business growth. Although the importance of customer retention may seem obvious, keeping up with clients on an individual basis is nearly impossible for most business owners (as we’re sure you know).
Here are 3 of the most common challenges of customer retention and solutions for how you can begin fixing your customer retention strategy.
Common Challenges of Customer Retention
1. Lack of Tools
Problem:
Your current tool set might consist of email drip campaigns, retargeted ads, or direct mail. These tools fail to connect with customers.
Solution:
With Skipio, you gain even more powerful tools for connection! You have the ability to use customized multi-conversational texting, direct voicemail, videos, and audio files to help you connect with and reach your customers.
2. Lack of Time
Problem:
It’s impossible to keep up with each and every one of your customers. You need to have seven to 10 interactions per customer per year in order to build a relationship with them. Let’s be real. You’re way too busy to call your clients one by one each day. You probably have thousands of customers! Is the task feeling pretty impossible and unmanageable?
Solution:
Skipio makes the impossible possible. You no longer have to lie awake at night, wondering how you can reach out to and retain your clientele. Skipio is your solution to personal communication with your customers.
Here are some of the ways you’ll be able to connect with your customers using Skipio:
- Campaigns and keywords to automate your messages
- Individual or group message scheduling
- 1-on-1 text conversations
- Voicemail drops
With Skipio, you can keep in touch with as few or as many customers as you’d like. Melissa S., an avid Skipio user, said, “With Skipio, my office is practically running itself!”
3. Lack of Connection
Problem:
You are unable to connect with your customers because perhaps your communication fails to reach them, goes unseen, doesn’t add value, or your mediums are not engaging.
Solution:
Skipio practically guarantees you connect!
- 97% of Americans text at least once a day.
- Text messages have a 98% open rate.
- Texts have a 45% response rate.
Connecting with customers starts by communicating with them the way they are communicating with others. Skipio gives you a platform where you can engage and connect with them.
Just as experienced gardeners know not to give up on their bamboo plants as they grow beneath the ground, you don’t have to leave your current clients by the wayside.
Don’t Be the Leaky Bucket
Without retention, your product or service is like a leaky bucket. You can pour as much money as you’d like into marketing and advertising, but without the ability to hold on to your customers you’ll have no sustainable growth. When you have a tool like Skipio allowing you to keep in touch, you’re eliminating holes in your bucket.
Skipio customer Melissa L. said:
“Using Skipio has automated the communication process for me without losing the personal touch. I now don’t need as much in-office help because Skipio has streamlined my communication. I can be out seeing people and making connections while Skipio is sending out personalized voicemails, text messages, birthday messages, and follow-up messages to all of my customers. Skipio allows for me to not let anyone fall through the cracks and fills in my communication gaps. I love Skipio!”
Don’t let the challenges of customer retention ruin your business. Plug the holes in your communication. Sign up for Skipio today.
