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Customer retention is a routine where you rinse, repeat, and rise to perfection over time. In the last year, 
Winning new customers and keeping their business will become more challenging now that new trends, like enhancing user experience through content and emphatic marketing, are rising. Therefore, if you want to win and retain core customers in the new year, you must fine-tune or adjust your already implemented customer programs.
Core Customer Tips
Know Your Brand
The secret many companies continue to miss when attracting customers is having a clear vision of what their brand stands for and how it is communicated in the market. To begin with, you need to know what wins customers over. To do so, you have to answer the following questions:
What sets you apart from competitors?
What is your unique selling point?
When you know how to sell your services in a way that adds value to your brand name, you will find it much easier to build a loyal customer base.
Differentiate Yourself
Once you know your brand, you have to make it visible. Otherwise, you will never generate interest to win over that first round of customers. Create a window to your brand's soul, whether visible signage, social media accounts, blogs, or another form of online presence. Make sure that you are speaking directly to your core customer persona.
Soon, you will have people purchasing your services or goods. That is when you move on to winning more customers using the loyal base—you stimulate word-of-mouth recommendations by asking for testimonials and reviews.
Target Your Marketing
Never take a generic approach. Just like you must be 100% certain of your brand and what you offer, you must also be completely aware of who you are targeting. Knowing who the ideal customer is helps you fabricate a buyer's journey that will adequately meet their needs and aid in their decision to use your services and goods.
Keep Customers Happy
Proactive engagement with customers is another step to retention. In other words, the cycle of winning customers and retaining them does not begin and end with them handing you money. Taking care of existing customers is cheaper for you (because you have to market less) and will help you make more money in the end. Loyal customers eventually end up buying additional products or services.
So what do you do? Offer partnerships, affiliate programs, and other bonuses to loyal customers. Give them ways to refer new customers to you, and then reward them for it. Depending on the nature of your business, you might even want to establish relationships with these existing customers by speaking to or mailing them directly (i.e., newsletters and follow-ups) to find out what more you could do for them.
Value Customer Experience Above All Else
The customer experience (user experience or UX) never used to be that big of an issue. However, with the power of choice given to the customer and a desire to have incredible experiences every single time they buy something, companies have to step up to the plate. Without giving customers joy and satisfaction every time they interact with your brand and whatever service you provide, you will not win their affection or business later.
Dominate the market by providing fantastic service that is an experience from start to finish. It doesn't matter if competitors offer cheaper services or products as long as your product or service provides more value in a way that makes you easy to do business with.
Final Thoughts
Winning and retaining customers is not rocket science, but the steps to take can be confusing if you don’t know where to start. First, identify your brand's uniqueness. From there, tailor services to a distinct demographic. Focusing on the customer and their overall experience can help you develop lasting, profitable relationships.
Good luck,
Alan
Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images