Anti-defection or retention? You decide (before your customers decide for you)
I came across this article over my morning coffee and thought it made a great point.
We all know it’s still cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one. This particular article notes a cost difference of 50% to 60%, and I have seen other statistics quoted on this as well. But controversially, it goes on to say that the retention programmes in place today are a waste of time.
Now, you could interpret that to mean, don’t bother, it’s not actually going to help your company’s cause.
But what the author is really trying to say is this; we need to rethink our retention strategies and goals. More precisely, we need to align customer programs with meaningful engagement, not just supposed personalized marketing messages.
How many times have you received a message where you are presently a customer and they are offering you a better deal or something you probably cannot take advantage of? What a turn-off, right?
You probably get a few of those a year, and all those little mis-steps add up. The big point here is you want to have an anti defection strategy that doesn’t waste money by misplacing messages, offers and experiences that are not relevant to your customers.
I hate to sound like James Carville, Bill Clinton’s political strategist but, it’s the customer experience, stupid!
Innovation from Thunderhead 