Retaining and Acquiring has been the crucial aspects of every business so far but the real hit of the significance of each of these aspects came to our notice when the pandemic had to arrive. Now is when we very well know, that “retaining key customers” keeps us going. And acquiring new customers seems to be groundbreaking work with higher expenses than appealing to the old customers who like you for something that you are offering!
To start retaining it’s not just the thought that has to be imbibed in the process, but there must be consideration of, “How satisfied your customers are?”, “Are you meeting their expectations?”, and also, “What more can be done?” of course, this comes with the quality of the work from your employees!
Keep these questions on top of your mind for retaining key customers!
Did we solve the use cases that you came for?
Technically speaking, it’s the response to a user’s actions by the system and in our case, it’s your product. This question is certainly crucial to analyze what worked for them!
It’s your firm’s task to analyze how are the product features helping customers grow to improvise business, leveraging it to either further improvise it or to set up an excellent customer experience around that feature will do magic in terms of customer expansion and growth of the business.
For an instance, if apples are selling in more numbers than oranges, wouldn’t you keep apples more than oranges the next time? Similarly what worked for them is more like your weapon to retain them.
Suggested Read: Gross Retention Rate or Net Retention Rate- Which is the key customer retention metric to track
What has been the impact on MRR?
For a SaaS business, MRR (monthly recurring revenue) is a valuable metric, after all the efforts of using your product for something there must be a change in this metric right? Suppose it is increased, isn’t it a great deal? That something is working and hence that result?
Ultimately, that’s what every business wants to see, “A rise in number”. The moment it drops, the next worst feeling is, “Oh it ain’t working!” If something is not you should be able to revise something to help them get there, that’s the ulterior motive after all!
So help them achieve it, or if they already have met the desired goal, you’ve done your work and they’ll do the rest of continuing to use your product!
So, it all points to did they achieve the value?
What value did we offer?
You aren’t certain of your pricing, have you been? If you are then you know why this question otherwise, it’ll help you.
Figure out the answer, to the degree of value they receive after utilizing your product. The treasure lies in this! What is that one feature that you find so apt here and not anywhere else? What is the maximum you are willing to pay for this?
Sets your pricing strategy clearly and can serve as a clear differentiator from the competition in terms of the value proposition. Retaining key customers is not easy. You need to be ready to go that extra mile for them.
Has there been a positive experience with us?
What serves you need not serve everyone right? There must be one commonality that everyone is enjoying. And you’d want to continue doing it! Hence for that reason, this is an important question, you can’t skip!
What our ideas are, must align with their liking. An introduction of something they don’t like can spoil the entirety of the positive experience. Stay persistent with their likes proactively and lay your future findings in alignment with them. So that you are doing what they like and also aligning with something they might like!
What are the next set of challenges that you’d want to solve?
Is anybody free of pain points? Not really! Internally or externally in their business, there is a crux and the tools help them fix it. But without this understanding, how can a customer success manager help in achieving the success to them?
It may be intricate detail personal to the business but as long as you can help them fix the pain points using your tools there is no harm in conveying it.
“What transformation do you want to witness in your business, 12 months from now? What help would you need from me?”
How satisfied are you with us?
Assuming the entire system is flawless is the biggest mistake we’ll ever do. What seems like may not be what it is! There is every firm where customers are facing issues in service or a product and with the personnel.
Is this bad? Not really but what’s devastating is, when they go haywire on Linkedin to shatter the foundation that took years to stay firm. But this crux has a fix and that’s being “A good listener”!
You got that right, what matters is what they have to say and not what have to think. So get this mantra in your head, “Listen, comprehend, and value”.
Losing the patience to reflect on the anger is damage to the business. That’s why customer satisfaction doesn’t come easy but takes patience to build it.
“What makes you so happy about us? Can you recommend it to a new prospect?” That will be the ongoing question when you know they are satisfied!
Extra resource: How to Maximise Net Revenue Retention
What can we do to elevate your experience?
Customer satisfaction doesn’t come easier. You need to know them so well to reach there. To an extent meet all their expectations and deliverables on time.
If that is the degree of service I’m getting, I’ll go to them often, and why not your customers? With the never-ending needs, the product evolves and so does the customer experience.
So ask this question directly, what could you do to make it better? After all, retaining key customers and not shushing them away at the stake where you take their inputs seriously to make a change. Otherwise, they are not interested in your product or answering your questions.
More specifically, “What are your barriers at times while using our product, and what are your thoughts on, how we could take it away?”
Final thoughts on retaining key customers!
Have you been asking these questions in your practices? It’s time you do because there lies the valuable information which is worthwhile for the growth of the business. Any investment in favor of giving customer experience and expansion of the business has to consider these insights from the loyal customers which will stay as a supporting ground for the effectiveness in engaging the acquired customers.
