Once a customer is gained, they are not gained forever. But, once a customer is lost, they are probably lost forever.
Suppose you have done something to annoy or dissatisfy your customer and they decide they are not interested in partaking in your services or products any longer. In that case, it’s doubtful they will return to you. Or if they do, it will take a lot of resources and enticing on your part, which might not be worth it.
That’s why they say lead acquisition and lead generation aren’t just about getting new leads, but also about holding onto the ones you already have. Customer retention matters.
Keep reading to find out more about this important marketing technique.
1. Customer Onboarding is Crucial
No matter if your product or service is easy to use or not, it’s essential that you spend some time on customer onboarding every single time.
You’ve probably experienced this yourself as a customer – you might have downloaded a new app or bought a new smart device and been confused about how to use it properly. After a while of meandering, you might have given up on the whole process and deleted the app or returned the product.
This is because you weren’t onboarded properly.
Exactly what you are trying to prevent when you acquire a new lead yourself. Lead acquisition isn’t just about getting as many leads as possible, but about treating these leads with the care and support they deserve.
Once they are comfortable using your product or service, you can leave them be. They will probably get annoyed if you bug them after that, but until that point, make sure you hold their hand through the process.
This is especially crucial if you have a highly technical product or service that has a steep learning curve.
2. Build an Internal Community for Your Leads
A lot of organizations have started building an internal (mostly free) community for other incoming leads and customers. This could be on a Telegram group or Whatsapp, or it could be more elaborate and built on a special platform.
Whatever it is, the idea behind the community is to support your old and new customers by answering any questions they might have. Also, the community is encouraged to support each other, by answering questions newbies might have, or by sharing helpful tips and tricks.
The problem is that a lot of customers and leads will feel like a sales figure, and not a real human being with needs, when integrated into a new organization. That’s why the best way to make them feel special is to include them in this form of community camaraderie.
Make sure to have at least one individual on your team that stays active in the community, answering questions, sharing new products, and being helpful in general. You aren’t creating a community to let it fester on its own. That would be a waste of such a valuable tool.
3. Customer Satisfaction Is Key
Even though you might believe that your organization as a whole has great customer service and is customer-centric, you might be surprised to find what your customers and leads actually think about you.
Are they as pleased with your customer service as you believe they are or that you wish for them to be? Or are they leaving in droves because you are treating them poorly once they are ‘acquired’?
Make sure to do surveys on incoming leads and on customers to inquire about their end-to-end experience. Every step of the process must be categorized and improved on.
Don’t assume that you are doing a good job of customer service until your customers tell you that in surveys or in face-to-face conversations. Remember that a lot of dissatisfied customers don’t actually say anything negative about their experience – they just leave.
You can’t rely entirely upon negative feedback or reviews from Google, Yelp, or customer service reps.
4. Gamify Your Leads’ Experience
Everyone wants to feel like they have won something in the process of buying something new, be it a product or service. It has to be interesting and enticing in some new way because everyone is overstimulated and underappreciated.
How will you gamify your leads’ experience so that they will enter your sphere of influence willingly? Of course, you can reward them with points for each level or tier of purchase. Or give them access to ever-widening circles of opportunity.
Every organization is going to be different in the way it does this. Try something new with your incoming leads and see what works. Or do A/B testing to find out what’s best for your product or service.
5. Personalize Your Communications
You can do this in small ways by sending out emails or postcards that are personalized with the leads’ names and salutations. Or you could go a step further by sending out greeting cards on their birthdays or anniversaries.
Always ensure you have received permission to send out communications (both email and snail mail) before doing anything in this regard. There’s no reason to antagonize leads or customers by sending them emails or letters when they have specifically asked you not to.
Also, don’t make the mistake of knowing more about the customer or leads than they have given you permission to know. You don’t want to make the same mistake that Target made by sending out flyers about pregnancy products to a teenage girl and getting into trouble with her unaware father.
Lead Acquisition Is More Than Just Acquiring New Leads
There are many marketing techniques that are going to be crucial for your organization to grow and expand to greater heights. Lead acquisition is one of those techniques that you can’t do without, as quality leads can change profit margins in your business greatly.
Ready to make lead generation easier for your organization? Contact RPM Leader, so we can help generate quality leads for your organization.