The Significance of Existing Customers
Acquiring new customers is naturally more difficult than having repeat business with your existing ones. Read below to find out what the true costs of obtaining new customers are and how you can increase profits by maintaining your existing ones.
Statistics
It is 6-7 more expensive for a business to find new customers than it is to retain their existing ones.
The rate at which you lose your customers after a 5 year gap in contact is 50%.
You can increase your profits from 5 - 95% by focusing on customer retention.
The Costs of New Customers
Advertising and Promotion
Pricing
Salesmen
Creating Accounts
Time and Money Spent Explaining Your Business
Inefficient Handling of New Customers
Perks of Selling to Satisfied Customers
Less Pricing Sensitivity
Less Likely to Switch to a Competitor
Word of Mouth Marketing
Increased Chances of Repeat Business
5 Steps to Increase Profit with Your Existing Customers
Reduce the amount of advertising and promotions you send.
Lower your selling budget to reduce money spent on commission.
Lower the number of new customer accounts.
Reduce costs that are associated with new customers, like time and money.
Charge a premium rate to your loyal customers.
Top 6 Objectives Marketers Believe to be the Most Successful in Customer Engagement
1. Repeat Purchases.
2. Enthusiastic Customers that Brand and Market for You.
3. Customer Resistance to Similar Products and Services from Your Competition.
4. The Willingness of Customers to Pay a Premium.
5. The Reduction of Marketing and Sales Costs as a Result of Customer Support.
6. Customers Volunteering to Improve a Brand’s Products and Services.
Top 6 Ways to Encourage Customer Engagement According to Marketers
1. Creating a Dependable, Consistent Brand Experience.
2. Creating Campaigns That Interact with Customers.
3. Letting Your Customers in on the Product Development Cycle.
4. Developing Tools and Assets That Allow Your Customers to Spread the Word.
5. Training Employees to Make Customer Experiences Positive and Memorable.
6. Creating Campaigns That Focus on a “Big Idea” to Show the Value of Your Brand.
The Most Important Marketing Factors for U.S. Marketers
Customer Acquisition – 29.9%
Customer Retention – 26.6%
Lead Generation – 21.3%
Building Brand Awareness – 15.4%
Convincing Competitor Customers to Switch – 7%
Top 4 Goals of B2B Marketers in 2009
Customer Acquisition – 62.2%
Customer Retention – 20.6%
Brand Awareness – 12.4%
Other – 4.8%
Use the above information to help you target your past customers and save yourself the amount of time and advertising costs it took to find new ones. If you focus on selling to your previous customers, you may find that the amount of time and money you spent previously on acquiring new ones was less efficient.
