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How Can a Business Retain a Customer? CRR and How To Measure It

Most of the company's income comes from loyal customers.. Such customers are very valuable for each company, because they have already tried the product and were satisfied, which means they will take more and offer it to their friends.

It's also no secret that customer retention is much more profitable and cheaper than attracting new customers. At the same time, it is easier and faster for the buyer to use what he has already tried, rather than looking for something new.

Figures according to researches:

• Attracting a new client is 5 times more expensive than retaining;
• Increasing CRR by 5% increases profit by 25-95%;
• The probability of selling to an existing client is 60% - 70%, to a new one - 5% - 20%;
• Loyal customers spend 33% more than new ones

How do you know if you need customer retention?

In order to understand the issue, you need a customer retention rate (CRR). This indicator shows how well the company retains its customers. The coefficient is measured as a percentage. If the CRR is high, then customers don't leave after 1-2 purchases.

There is a formula for determining the CRR indicator:

CRR = ([Total number of customers at the end of the period - Number of new customers for the period] / Number of customers at the beginning of the period) * 100%

*Period — month/quarter/half year

Example: a company had 1,000 customers in a month. At the end of the month, 100 customers stopped using the service, but thanks to advertising, 50 new customers came.

At the end of the month, 950 customers remained, we consider CRR:

Answer: The company's CRR for this month is 90%

If the indicator is below the norm, you need to work on customer retention. Each industry has its own CRR. For example, mobile application developers have 42% in 30 days, and for the media, the norm is 25% in 60 days. Check the average CRR in your field, compare with yours and draw your own conclusions.

There is also an inverse indicator - Churn Rate, i.e. how many customers refused to return after a purchase:

A high number means that the company has a large customer churn and it is worth reconsidering the marketing strategy.

How to keep a client?

Support service

According to a PWC study, 80% of customers consider speed, convenience, friendly service and professional help to be the main elements of a positive customer experience. In order not to lose a client and keep in touch, use all convenient ways for support service. It's important to solve clients' issues with your product/service as soon as possible. Pleased customer would be happy to come back to you.

Personalized Discounts

Take advantage of personalized discounts to attract customers. According to research by Digiday, 68% of customers appreciate it when a brand sends personalized discounts based on order history. Address buyers by name and remind them of pending orders.

Personal selections based on the interests of the client are also valuable, and it's not perceived as intrusive advertising.

Convenient payment and delivery

Companies often lose potential profit and customer loyalty at the end of the customer journey due to payment or delivery ways are not suitable for the client. Take expiration from marketplaces, that suggest as much ways of payment and delivery as it possible. Competitors can easily grab your potential audience if your conditions are not so convenient.

Connect various payment methods, payment systems, pickup points, couriers, parcel machines, etc. In short, give the customer freedom of choice.

Free version

Let customers try your product without buying anything. Temporary free access to the product or a free version with incomplete functionality will allow customers to understand whether they should pay for your product / service or not. This model is called Freemium, where the task of Free is to introduce the product, and Premium is to sell it.

Invite the customer to change the product himself

If the type of your product allows you to change the product, take advantage of it. It's will generate more interest and possibly increase profits.

Example: Crocs came up with a tricky move: the client can separately buy jibbitz and create their own style of branded shoes. Pandora has something similar. Thanks to the marketing strategy, women create unique bracelet designs.

Develop success management

Customer Success Manager (CSM) - in simple words, this is a specialist who is responsible for customer satisfaction, makes sure that the buyer uses the product and is satisfied. A good specialist must prove the usefulness and importance of the offer so that the client stays with the company for a long time.

56% of customers remain loyal to companies that understand them. Make sure that the buyer understands the product and learns how to use it 100%.

Bonuses after purchase

Loyalty programs, points accumulation, promotional codes for the next purchase - all these are ways to motivate the client to return for the next purchase.

Usability

Make sure that your site works quickly and is convenient and understandable for users.

Site loading speed. Just under 50% of customers will close a site if it takes over 3 seconds to load.

Easy navigation. Let you place an order in a few clicks and you will see the result. Remove unnecessary actions and do not test the buyer's patience.

Site structure. Make a logical structure so that the client doesn't get lost. Get rid of excess.

Simplified ordering process. Use auto-complete fields with name, address, password and more to save time and effort for the buyer.

If you make an intuitive site for new customers, when they return, they will spend more time exploring and choosing, so you will not lose information and will win.

Remind yourself

Well, one of the most important - don't let the client forget yourself. Use various mailing lists, hire an SMM manager and run social media not only with selling posts, entertain customers and provide educational content. Here, the credibility of your brand and the mention of it will grow.

Conclusion

Analyze your audience with CRR and CR formulas and build customer trust. Don't forget that keeping customers is much more profitable than finding new ones. Enter a dialogue, help to understand the product, learn about preferences and work on designing the most simple and intuitive interface.

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