Customer acquisition can be costly and time-consuming. So, how can you make sure that the recurring revenue of your organization isn’t hindered by new customer acquisition? The answer is- by reducing churn.
It’s an established fact that retaining customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. And according to Harvard Business ReviewOpens a new window , increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.
This article will talk about a lead nurturing approach to customer retention.
Lead nurturing programs are usually implemented to maintain relationships with prospects throughout their buying journey. But with sophisticated CRMs and huge amounts of data at our disposal, we can easily use these activities to improve customer retention too. Here are five ways:
01) Customer Onboarding
Customer onboarding is a process your customers go through when they either subscribe to or purchase your product/service. **The onboarding process is important because it defines your relationship with the new customer.**
You can start nurturing your relationship with the customer by sending a welcome emailOpens a new window and connecting them to a dedicated account manager. Then later follow-up with a product tutorial email series so that the customer can get better acquainted with your product.
A drip email campaign explaining other product features, their use cases, and other educational content can help the user know about the product in its entirety.
Here is an example of how Evernote makes customer onboarding easy and seamless:
Image 1: Users receive this email from Evernote when they sign-up.
Image 2: Users keep receiving tutorial emails from Evernote explaining different featuresÂ
02) Remarketing Campaigns
A multi-channel approach towards lead nurturing ensures a consistent customer experience. Integrating remarketingOpens a new window campaigns with lead nurturing activities opens up one more avenue for customers to re-engage.
To set up remarketing campaigns, companies usually include a script known as a pixel, in the emails, and on the webpage. A cookie is set at the end of the visitor’s device, through which the company can later target highly-specific ads.
When planning a remarketing campaign, segment your existing buyers based on their geographic and demographic characteristics, behavior, preferences etc. You can also segment the customers based on buyer personasOpens a new window .
Use these segments to market new product launches, upselling, cross-selling, custom feature sets or any other relevant offerings through email and remarketing campaigns.
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03) Social Media Marketing
Social media acts as one more touch point in a multi-channel marketing approach. Your customers are already on social media, so make sure you utilize this opportunity to strengthen your relationship.
- Make social listening a rudimentary aspect of social media marketing.
- Start conversations with your customers by liking and replying to their tweets, liking their comments and sharing interesting and helpful content they post.
- Collaborate with them to generate new content which can be beneficial to both. If a customer mentions you on social media, make sure you respond.
Here is how Slack aces the lead nurturing game on Twitter!
Along with remarketing campaigns, you can also run ad campaigns on social media. Some social platforms let you upload email/lead lists.
You can benefit from this by targeting specific users based on their product usage or similar characteristics.
04) Targeted Content
61% of consumers go for companies that create custom contentOpens a new window . Information overload has saturated our inbox and our cognitive facilities as well. How do you stand out amid all the clutter? The answer- with Targeted content.
First, make sure that you have a solid content marketing planOpens a new window in place. Start building a repository of different types of content to target different stages of the buying cycle. A few examples are:Â blog posts, infographics, ebooks, whitepapers, case studies, slide decks, videos etc.
Knowing your customer, their triggers, interests, goals, preferences and other characteristics help create more personalized content. Data Orchestration platformsOpens a new window can help you with improved segmentation.
Here’s an example of targeted content by Sumo.
05) Webinars
Marketers have always perceived webinarsOpens a new window as a powerful lead generation tool. They can be effective in nurturing prospects who are at the bottom of the funnel.
Here’s how they can help:
- Establish thought leadership for your brand
- People who sign-up already know who you are. So, initial barriers are already lowered
- Complements other content marketing activities
- Offers a high level of customer engagement
To run a successful webinar:
- Start promoting it a month before
- Keep sending short emails and reminders periodically to your list of registrants.
- Share content pertaining to the topic of the webinar online through your blog and social media.
- After the webinar, understand the data to analyze the attendee list, engagement level, hot leads etc.
Bonus!
I would like to add one more activity to the list which is slightly more old-school. I’m talking about handwritten notes. You can use them right from the moment a customer purchases your product, or from the time they show interest in it and even across the various stages of the customer journey.
Tell us which lead nurturing activities have been most beneficial to you in the comments below!