Keeping the customers you have is as important to your bottom line and the survival of your business as winning new customers. It’s also a tremendous cost savings to keep the customers you have. You’ve probably already heard that it costs 4 – 6 times more to win a customer than to keep a customer. If that fact isn’t enough to convince you that you should focus on keeping the customers you have, take a look at four more compelling reasons.
- Loyal customers are the easiest customers to serve. Over time, you learn the preferences of customers and they become more educated on the scope of your offerings. This knowledge of expectations on both ends leads to decreased transaction time and fewer problems, which saves you money.
- Long-term customers tend to spend more with you than new customers. In a loyalty study of more than 100 companies, an auto-service company found that the expected profit of a fourth year customer is more than triple that of a first year customer. As the business-to-customer relationship grows, profits increase.
- Happy, loyal customers purchase other products or services in the company’s line resulting in, again, increased profits.
- Satisfied, loyal customers recommend the company’s products or services. A recommendation from a friend or colleague can be a decisive influence on purchasing choices.
Keeping the customers you have is not simply a “warm and fuzzy” customer service slogan…it’s downright profitable! This post is an excert from Myra’s book Beyond WOW.