by Donna J Davis | Apr 29, 2024 | Customer Service, Marketing
Two main activities help increase your revenue:
- Getting new customers and
- Keeping those customers happy so they stay with you and buy more.
Did you know that 44% of businesses aren’t calculating how many customers stay with them over a period of time (known as customer retention rates)? And Customer Gauge’s December 2023 article says those businesses are “missing a huge opportunity.”
Business owners, managers, or your accounting team study many numbers. Revenues, gross profit, the direct cost to get those sales, your overhead expenses, and your net profit are a few financial markers.
You probably understand the importance of your financial reports. But don’t be a part of those 44% of businesses that neglect to track customer retention percentages.
If you aren’t a numbers person, this may seem like A LOT of data. Aren’t your financials enough to give you a good representation of your business? Yes, and no.
Your financials tell you the results of your activities, but knowing stats about your customers’ loyalty gives you a deeper picture of what’s happening.
Consider these facts reported by HubSpot:
- Customer acquisition is expensive. It can cost up to five times more than keeping your existing customers happy.
- The chance of selling to a new customer is between 5% and 20%.
- That percentage jumps to 60-70% for existing customers.
- “Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that aren’t.”
- When introducing a new product (or service), 50% of current customers are more likely to try it, and 31% are “more likely to spend more on their average order value.”
Businesses that focus solely on acquiring more and more customers often struggle.
A focused effort to keep current customers happy can result in more revenues and profits for your business.
If you don’t already know your customer loyalty numbers, you need three numbers.
- The number of your customers at the Start (S) of a given period. Let’s say you want to measure your customer retention for this (or last) year’s first quarter. Your starting point is January 1.
- The number of NEW (N) customers you added during this period.
- The number of customers at the End (E) of the given period. In this case, that’s the number of customers as of March 31st.
Here’s the formula with numbers as examples:
(E-N) divided by S times 100 = Your Customer Retention Rate Percentage
So if you started with 110 customers (S), added 15 new customers (N), and ended with 90 customers (E), your formula looks like this:
90 (E) -15 (N) = 75 divided by 110 (S) = .68 x 100 = 68%
You subtract your new customers because you want to know how many of your CURRENT customers stay with you. So, take your ending number, subtract your new customers, and divide that by your starting number.
Another example: (E-N)/S x 100 = Customer Retention Rate
You started with 190 (S) customers. You added 30 (N) new customers. You ended with 200 (E) customers.
200 (E) – 30 (N) = 170 divided by 190 (S) = .89 x 100 = 89%
If that made your eyes roll because you already have so many responsibilities to juggle, I can help. Book a Zoom call with me. I’ll share a spreadsheet with you so you can plug in your numbers. I’ll learn more about your business and customers, and you’ll leave knowing more information.
If nothing else, leave knowing this…
Your current customers can have a significant impact on your revenues and your bottom line. They can be a vital source of ongoing income. Tap into easier sales with simple strategies.
I’ll discuss what to do with this information in future posts.
by Donna J Davis | Apr 28, 2024 | Customer Service
You? Your employees? New customers? Your existing customers?
Acquiring more customers and clients is a main focus for many businesses. Yes, that’s important to for your business’ growth. But if you neglect prioritizing those customers, you’ll lose them to a competitor who appreciates them.
The financial side of loyal customers
Here are some quotes from entrepreneurs, founders, and authors. Wise words on the financial impact of keeping your existing customers happy.
“One customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.” ~Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker
“The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” ~Derek Sivers, Founder of CD Baby
“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” ~Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
Focus on the customer, not your competition
“Until you understand your customers – deeply and genuinely – you cannot truly serve them.” ~Rasheed Ogunlaru, author, speaker, coach
“If you don’t appreciate your customers, someone else will.” ~Jason Langella, marketing entrepreneur and brand builder
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” ~Michael LeBoeuf, business author
“Instead of focusing on the competition, focus on the customer.” ~Scott Cook, American businessman, Co-Founder of Intuit
“Make your customer the hero of your stories.” ~Ann Handly
Customers are your most valuable assets
“It takes months to find a customer… seconds to lose one.” ~Vince Lombardi, American football coach and executive
“Customer service is the new marketing.” ~Jim Bush, EVP at American Express
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” ~Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.” ~Peter Drucker, management consultant, educator, and author known as the father of management thinking
Are you paying attention to your existing customers? What are you doing to show appreciation to them?
Ideas to improve your customer relationships
- An excellent well-written email campaign to engage your readers. This can include welcome emails, thank you’s, onboarding info, specials for current customers and many more
- Newsletters on a pre-set schedule to share information, tips, and something entertaining
- Phone calls to new customers
- Webinars for more information on your product or service
- Office hours so customers can ask questions
- Surveys
If you’d like to improve how you connect with your customers, let’s brainstorm ideas.
Schedule a call with me here.
by Donna J Davis | Dec 2, 2023 | Marketing
Knowing and addressing your customer’s intent is critical to successful marketing for your business. First, let’s clarify customer intent.
Whenever anyone goes to Google to search for a solution to a problem, they enter a phrase or question. That signals their intent. In marketing, intent is someone’s purpose when asking a search engine a question.
Keywords are the clue
That phrase or question will contain certain words (keywords) that Google analyzes, and within seconds, a list of “results” pops up to help answer that question. You want to be on that list!
Let’s say you own a pet supply or supplement business. You understand many factors that can affect and improve a dog’s health.
We also have Maggie, who is concerned about her two-year-old Cocker Spaniel.
When Maggie types into Google, “Why is my dog so lethargic?” you want your website to be one of the top options in Google’s search results. Maggie sees your company on Google and clicks to learn how you could solve her pet’s problem.
You must understand what your customers need at different stages in their buyer’s journey to do that.
What is the Buyer’s Journey?
Online searchers fall into one of four categories (or intents):
- Research. At this beginning stage, users want to find information about a problem, a product, or a service. In our example, Maggie was at the research stage. She didn’t know why her doggie had no energy.
- Compare. Once users understand possible solutions to their problems, they move into this stage to compare different brands or products. Maggie learned that something her dog ate (or has been eating for several weeks) may be a factor. She starts looking at different brands of healthier dog food.
- Buy. A user has decided to buy a particular product or service at this stage. They may need even more information to reassure them that you have the solution but they are ready to spend money.
- Succeed. After buying, the buyer wants to get the most value from their purchase. For Maggie, serving suggestions or other supplements are options you could offer to help her care for her fur baby.
This business should have an email series to help with the Succeed intent. Stay connected with your buyers by emailing them additional information, tips, or resources they can use.
A second email can include info on the company and its quality standards. Connect with new customers and make sure they know how to contact your company if they have any questions. Help your customers know you care and you’re there for them.
You want information on your website that addresses all four customer intent stages.
Where to address these intents…
What parts of your website address each intent? Watch for my next post. I’ll give you more information on what pages should address these buyer intents. In future posts, I’ll go into more detail on these specific buyer intents. Until then, please check out the post on keywords here.
by Donna J Davis | Nov 6, 2023 | Communication, Marketing
This week, on the singing competition show “The Voice,” coaches shared valuable advice with the contestants about the value of connecting with others and storytelling. And you can use these two specific pieces of advice in your business, too!
At this stage in The Voice competition, contestants are competing in the Battle Rounds. They are paired with one other contestant to showcase their talent. Coaches then had to make difficult decisions about who they felt deserved to continue in the competition.
Good but missing a key element
Contestant A was a young teenager with a lovely voice. Even though she performed very well, she sang with her eyes closed during most of the performance.
Contestant B was in another pairing. She had a velvety tone to her voice and technically sang perfectly. But the emotions of the lyrics were lacking in her performance.
What did the coaches say?
Singing with eyes closed during most of her performance blocked Contestant A’s ability to connect to the audience.
Many singers briefly close their eyes to deeply feel the music. However, in this case, not looking at the audience during her song broke the full impact of her performance. Her competitor won this round of the competition.
Contestant B heard recommendations to really feel the lyrics and express emotion throughout the song. Some of the best artists in the industry are great storytellers. Singing with emotion helps those listening feel every nuance of the lyrics.
A story’s pain, heartbreak, or joy is more deeply conveyed when you can hear and feel the emotion in the artist’s voice.
Contestant B’s competitor did a much better job of singing with emotion…and won that round.
How does this apply to your business?
So, how does this apply to your business?
I’m sure you don’t go through your day with your eyes closed.
And you don’t speak in monotone to your customers.
But you are competing with others in your field.
Did you know that Google gets 8.5 BILLION searches every day? So, how do you stand out and “win” more customers?
Like in the singing competition,connecting with others and storytelling are two essential skills. Be vulnerable. Share your reason for doing what you do.
When writing blogs, emails, or video scripts, you want the customer or potential customer to resonate with you. You want them to feel “They get me!”
Today, you must develop “know, like, and trust” factors with customers. You can do that by providing genuine value and by being authentic. That is rare today, and customers connect with the businesses that show they understand them.
Imagine looking eye-to-eye and listening to someone. You feel a connection to them, right?
Create that in your marketing materials. Listen to the needs of your audience and provide the solution to help them.
Draw your audience in
Next, imagine how you feel when a friend tells you about a hilarious encounter while on vacation. It pulls you in and makes you feel like you were there, right?
Everyone leans in when they hear a good story.
Instead of rattling off all the facts of what your product or service can do for customers…tell a story. Share what happened to an actual customer.
Tell about someone experiencing a specific problem and how your product or service solved it. We all have pain and struggles. It’s encouraging when we hear how someone found a solution.
Connecting to others and storytelling were two priceless words of wisdom for “The Voice” contestants. Businesses should never forget the importance of these two concepts as well.
And if you love hearing an artist excel at storytelling when singing, check out contestant Alexa Wildish on “The Voice” – a four-chair turn for any Voice fans.
by Donna J Davis | Sep 24, 2023 | Marketing
Keywords are the words and phrases that you type into search engines when you are searching for answers. Using three or more words in a search phrase is known as long-tail keywords.
An example is the word “rings” vs a more specific long-tail keyword phrase “women’s white gold rings.” Long-tail keywords refine the search and give more targeted results.
Benefits of long-tail keywords
As an online marketer, here are some benefits of using long-tail keywords.
1. Better targeting. Long-tail keywords allow you to narrow your target market. In the white gold ring example, that keyword phrase would appeal to potential buyers looking for that higher quality jewelry. Searchers looking for something under $25 would not be in that specific target market.
2. Higher conversion rates. By using more specific long-tail keywords, you attract searchers who are closer to making a buying decision. Someone searching for “best women’s white gold rings under $1000” is either in the process of comparing pieces of jewelry or wants to buy one.
3. Less online competition. Google gets billions of searches every day and long-tail keywords help you lower your competition. For example, general keywords like “rings” encompass all types of rings for all types of people, and all price ranges. Finding even more specific long-tail keywords keeps lowering that competitive field for you.
4. Improved SEO. Using long-tail keywords helps readers find you because Google loves high-quality, relevant content. When you use specific keyword phrases naturally in your content, you’re providing valuable information to users. This can boost your search engine rankings over time.
Always remember your searcher’s intent
In writing any content online, always remember what your potential audience is searching for. There are four stages of searcher intent.
* RESEARCH
* COMPARE
* BUY
* SUCCEED
Anticipate your searcher’s intent and make sure that your online content addresses that intent. If they are researching your product or service, give them enough information on the benefits they would receive.
If they are comparing your product to another competitor’s product, address that. They will search and find your competitors, so be upfront and show them how and why your product is better.
If they are ready to buy, make sure they know how to order and where you are located. So many local businesses, do not include their address and phone number clearly at the top of web pages. Don’t omit that critical information.
For current customers, make sure that it’s easy for them to contact you. Have your phone number and hours, chat availability, or email address clearly posted so they can reach you if they have a problem or a question.
Choose long-tail keywords and then deliver
When searchers find you, make sure you deliver on the phrase they were looking for. Give them enough information so they know how you can help them. Once you’ve attracted your ideal customer, take good care of them in all stages.
