The top 10 high performing customer retention strategies for 2023 and beyond

Customer retention strategies have never been more important. In the face of economic uncertainty and increasing competition, fostering loyalty across the customer lifetime journey makes solid business sense.

Why is customer engagement important? When customers are engaged and loyal, this can correlate with higher customer lifetime value.

We explore how the economy affects consumer behaviour and 10 customer retention ideas to incorporate into your strategy.

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The economic drivers of consumer behaviour

Australians are tentatively optimistic about the economy’s future. There is no denying that the events of the last few years have changed consumer behaviour and that those changes persist. Changes in consumer trends include a dominant shift towards digital behaviour.

Nonetheless, we may be facing a global recession in the future [1]. While Australia may avoid the full brunt of the economic fallout that may follow, there’s no denying that the rising cost of living is hurting consumers.

In the face of these trends — economic uncertainty and the digitisation of consumer behaviour — businesses need to rethink their customer retention strategies. The strategies that worked in the past may now fall flat in the face of changing priorities and concerns.

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The top 10 customer retention strategies

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The future of customer engagement is rapidly evolving. Businesses need to keep pace with this change through smart customer retention strategies that deliver results. Here are 10 strategies to consider.

• Listen to feedback
  Quite often, your customers can give you the greatest insights into the action you need to take to retain them. If you ask your customers for feedback, listen to what they say and turn those insights into action.

• Make it personal
  Marketing personalisation isn’t a nice-to-have. In exchange for the data they provide you with, customers expect a personalised experience. Personalisation is a win-win: not only do customers get the solution they need at a faster rate, but the business benefits from the positive brand sentiment that this cultivates.

• Gamify the experience
  Using gamification customer retention strategies helps to hook your customers into your brand. Whether it’s loyalty discounts, referral rewards or gamification of the digital experience, this strategy helps to keep your customers engaged in your brand beyond a single purchase.

• Foster loyalty
  ‍How do you inspire loyalty today? You build it through a shared values connection and then reward it in order to maintain it. Not only does this help to support customer retention, but it can also be a powerful tool for new customer acquisition through word-of-mouth marketing.

• Onboard as you mean to continue
  The customer journey can begin and end with the onboarding experience. If this is seamless and meaningful, it can save your customer time and leave them with a positive brand sentiment.

• Prioritise convenience
  Customers want convenience. From the availability of support to finding the information they need about your product, convenience is king. Make it easy for your customers to do business with you, and they’ll keep coming back for more.

• Optimise for omnichannel
  ‍In today’s digital age, you can’t avoid omnichannel solutions. Customers want you to meet them where they are, whether that’s SMS, email, web chat, social media or other digital communication platforms. A consistently branded omnichannel solution is the answer.

• Use your data
  ‍If you want to understand why customers churn, look at your data. Analysing the data available to you can provide you with incredible insights to inform your customer retention efforts.

• Automate the journey
  Many of these strategies can be automated to free up resources within your business to focus on other areas of impact, such as product development. Sophisticated technology like Pendula can do exactly this.

•  Start a conversation
  ‍Customer service needn’t be transactional. Customer service needs to be a conversation. When you engage in a conversation with your customers, you’re engaging them in your brand.

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Increase your customer retention with Pendula

Customer retention is a challenge for all businesses moving forward into 2023 and beyond. Customers expect more, and businesses must deliver. Couple these higher expectations with the accelerating speed of digital transformation, and it’s clear that customer experience and engagement is the key to successfully navigating the landscape.

Pendula is here to help, offering the best customer engagement and behaviour platform for conversations that power customer retention. As a no-code Digital Communications platform focused on retention, Pendula allows you to create automated workflows integrated with your customer data.

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Start a conversation with Pendula

When you’re ready to step up your customer retention strategies, we’re here with the solution. Talk to an expert about how Pendula can make a difference to your customer retention and loyalty.

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References:

Renju Jose, Reuters. October 12, 2022. Australia hopes to fend off recession despite global economic dangers-Treasurer [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/markets/australia-hopes-fend-off-recession-despite-global-economic-dangers-treasurer-2022-10-11