Introduction

Customers are kings, so it’s important to do everything possible to retain them. Some people say it costs five times as much to earn a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. Others say that retaining customers is seven times more valuable. And finally: “Acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.”

There are a lot of ways to increase your customer retention rate. From interacting on social media, email marketing, and setting realistic expectations, here are the best practices for increasing your customer retention.

#1. Set Realistic Expectations

Setting realistic expectations is so important if you’re trying to improve your customer retention rate – it can have a huge impact on your business’ ability to keep customers. Think about things like shipping times, for example. Most online stores can’t compete with Amazon when it comes to shipping times. But, what you can do instead is work hard to keep your customers informed.

You can have transparent shipping information on your website. You can send emails to customers telling them that their order was received; that their order was processed; and that their item has shipped. You can customize the updates you send to your customers with a few clicks in the Shopify backend:

#2. Create a Loyalty Program

A customer loyalty program is a great way to increase customer retention. These programs reward your customers by giving them incentives to come back and shop with you.

Once your customers opt into your loyalty program, make them feel special by hooking them up with offers: Give them a sneak peek at new products, and offer exclusive deals. This royal treatment will help your customers to feel valued, and is the crux of this customer retention strategy.

#3. Pay Attention to Questions

You know how you sometimes need an extra set of eyes to edit because it’s impossible to spot your own typos?

The same thing can happen with your business: You designed the customer journey, you built the product pages, you set the prices. In short, you understand everything about your store because you’re the one who invented it.

Which is exactly why we can’t always see what we did wrong. At least not as well as our customers can. Paying attention to questions about your business is a great way to keep your customers, and a simple customer retention technique.