Customer retention is one of the most valuable assets businesses can acquire.
Customer retention is more than just a contract renewal for data center consultants. Often, these repeat customers lead to free publicity, referrals for other qualified leads, and additional revenue, with many upgrading to other premium products/services.
Customer retention is so important that an entire step of the inbound methodology is assigned to it: the delight stage.
An organization can increase its chances of repeating business with clients through segmentation, a great onboarding program, and personalization.
“At the most basic level, segmentation must be in place,” says Joshua Feinberg, VP and Co-Founder of SP Home Run, “The communication aimed at valued existing clients needs to be vastly different than the communication and resources going to your potential clients.”
Segmenting email lists, educational content, and resources will help businesses maintain client relevancy. Lumping your prospects and clients together in the same bucket is highly frowned upon.
“Clients are going to be completely turned off if they’re getting emails from a company that they’re already a customer of asking them to buy. That company is going to look completely clueless.”
Having a great onboarding program is highly recommended for data center consultants.
A thorough onboarding program will provide training, education, and support. An onboarding program will implement proper training to help clients get the most out of their product/service.
“You want to make sure you’re giving them a great onboarding experience,” says Feinberg, “You need to perfect your support database, frequently asked questions, and come up with great training, events, and resources that show you’re committed to their success.”
Personalization is extremely important.
Personalizing content shows a customer they are valued. Personalized content will help elongate their customer lifecycle and improve business relationships and overall buying experience.
“It’s not just about retention,” says Feinberg, “It’s about them being so satisfied and exceeding their expectations, so they tell their friends and other business ventures—bringing in strangers right into the top of your funnel.”
We hear it repeatedly; people buy from people they trust.
Customizing each client’s experience will go a long way in boosting your client retention, and achieving customer retention will help your business generate positive reviews, word-of-mouth publicity, and organic leads.
Conversely, the average scorned customer will tell 9-15 people about their negative experience. Ignoring your customers once you exchange payment will lead to negative reviews and word-of-mouth publicity and may even deter prospects from your business.
A proper onboarding program, segmenting your clients, and personalizing content for them will help your business provide the proper support needed for customer retention.
How does your data center consulting business delight existing customers? Let us know in the Comments section below.