There’s this gut reaction that most businesses have when it comes to marketing. Spend money looking for new clients. But the fact is it’s far more expensive to find new clients than retain the ones you already have. Several studies have estimated the cost of a new client being somewhere between five and seven times the cost of existing client retention.
But how exactly do you retain your existing clients? The secret lies in what we like to call surprise, delight, and wow. This concept is simple: you don’t need to spend money on marketing; you just need to show your customers how much they mean to you.
Here are 7 ways that businesses and organizations can use to retain and upsell their clients:
- Send a “treat” every once in a while
One of the simplest ways to show your clients that you care is by sending them something unexpected. (This is the “surprise,” if you couldn’t guess.) It could be anything– company swag, candy, cards, coupons for discounts on their next purchase… anything!
The reason this works so well, is that your clients won’t be expecting anything from you, so when they open up the package and find something they weren’t expecting, it shows them that you’re thinking about them.
This doesn’t need to cost much at all– you could send one of these simple “treat” packages to each of your clients for just a few bucks. Ultimately, the goal is to just send a little something that will surprise and delight each of your clients.
- Do something for free
This is the delightful part of surprise, delight, wow… not just doing something unexpected like sending swag (which already counts as a delightful surprise, of course), but doing it for free.
The best part of this is that it doesn’t have to cost you anything (and you’ll probably end up netting more in return). The best things to give away are items (or experiences) where you have excess capacity. For example, if you own a bakery, and you can make some extra pastries that day, those would be the best to give away. Or if you run training seminars, and can always fit a few extra people in the room, make some spots available for free. If you have the capacity to do something for free, your clients will love it!
- Send a “how was your experience” survey
These are easy to send out and even easier for your customers to complete. Not only does it give you valuable feedback on how you could improve, but it also shows them that you care about what they think. And who doesn’t love being asked for their opinion?
- Host an event/giveaway
For some businesses, regular annual events are at the core of their business growth. For instance, consider hosting an annual cookout, or block party for all of your existing clients and their families. This sort of thing is very easy to plan, and really shows your clients how much you care about them (while giving you the opportunity to interact with them more).
- Send a handwritten thank-you note
Receiving a handwritten note in the mail is somewhat rare these days. So if you want your clients to be surprised when they get a thank-you note from you, they will be delighted.
And it doesn’t have to be a thank you note either. You can write a note for just about anything (a congratulatory note, a birthday card, or holiday card for example).
- Give them exclusive coupons/discounts
Customers love getting something exclusive that’s just for them. Treat your loyal customers to something that’s not available to the general public. For example, if you are running a retail business, treat your loyal clients to a private trunk sale or similar type of event.
- Offer them VIP treatment
Give your loyal clients the best attention possible, and show how much you value their business by offering them some sort of exclusive membership status (or “VIP treatment”). For example, if you own a health club, offer free personal training sessions to your most loyal customers. If you run an insurance agency, offer your loyal clients in-home concierge consultations with an insurance expert. The possibilities are endless!
So there you have it, 7 ways to keep them coming back for more. Are you curious about how you can add surprise, delight, and wow to your business? If so we’d be delighted to help you explore the possibilities. Best way to accomplish that is to schedule a free, no obligation strategy session with us right here.
Would you like to explore how to create programmatic and consistent upsell systems in your business? Schedule a no-obligation strategy call with us here.