New customers are very pricey and hard to acquire. The variety of companies and products has weakened customer relationships by making people more cautious in their choices. 55% of consumers state they used to trust companies they buy from more. Over 65% claim they don’t trust advertisements, press releases, and social media ads. Thus, whatever you do to attract their attention, you are quite likely to fail.

So how to market effectively, when response rates are so low?

First of all, value the customers who stick to your brand. Launch a multi-step customer retention program that helps to keep consumers and reduce churn rates. Use untrite marketing channels, including offline and personalized touchpoints like direct mail marketing, to show a special attitude to loyal customers and strengthen your connection. Also, make sure to introduce customer loyalty strategies and measurement to understand whether your efforts work.

For detailed tips on running a multi-step customer retention program with direct mail marketing, read about:

• Benefits of customer retention program compared to customer acquisition
• The fundamentals of a multi-step customer retention program with direct mail marketing
• Why direct mail marketing is a must-have in customer loyalty strategies and measurement

Benefits of Customer Retention Program Compared to Customer Acquisition

Most market leaders invest in customer retention programs and measuring loyalty for a reason. Of course, they love their customers and want to please them. But there is more to it. Careful calculations of ROI and estimated profit show that targeting loyal customers is cheaper than engaging new ones. Let’s talk numbers to understand why:

• Customer acquisition takes 5 times more investment than customer retention
• The chance of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% compared to 5-20% of a new prospect
• 44% of companies focus on customer engagements, whereas only 18% pay sufficient attention to their customer retention program. In other words, customer retention strategies are an effective way to outperform competitors
• A 5% increase in customer retention increases profit by over 25%
• The Pareto principle works for customer retention strategies – 80% of your future revenue will be generated by only 20% of loyal customers
• Within the last five years, the cost of customer acquisition has increased by almost 50% and continues to grow
• Every year US companies lose around 137 billion dollars because of consumer switching (when a customer stops using your product or services and goes to your competitor)
• 69% of adult US customers buy more from retailers with consistent customer service across online and offline channels
• Mobile messaging (58%), emails (52%), and mobile apps (44%) are more commonly used for customer retention than acquisition

These are just some of the stats that reflect the influence of customer loyalty strategies and measurement on your business profitability. They also show that customer retention isn’t only about bonuses and discounts, but quality customer service and everyday work.

The Fundamentals of a Multi-Step Customer Retention Program with Direct Mail Marketing

The relationships with repeat customers start long before you notice their loyalty. The positive first experience when visiting your website, a greeting direct mail marketing postcard, or a timely shipped order may determine their future. Therefore, be sure to implement comprehensive customer loyalty strategies and trackable metrics for every stage of your customer journey.

Here are the main steps in a customer retention program you need to follow:

Step 1#. Take care of customer service

32% of customers state they would stop using the services of a brand they love after one negative experience. Pretty thin ice, right? That’s why you should remember that nothing keeps your customers more effectively than quality service. Invest in website usability, convenient mobile apps (if applicable), chatbots, and other resources that enhance the customer experience. If you have a limited budget, note that such simple steps as timely notifications, fast delivery, or holiday mail campaigns also make a difference.

Step #2. Introduce an engaging customer loyalty program

Show your leads how you treat loyal customers from the word go. Develop clear rules for the loyalty program and introduce customers to it as soon as they place the first order. Indicate how many repeat purchases will enable them to join the program and what benefits they will get from it. For example, you can delight loyals with discounts, bonuses, or exclusive print catalogs with custom products. Such offers always make customers feel valued.

Step #3. Implement a clear measure of customer loyalty

To understand whether your retention programs pay off, you need to start measuring loyalty. Email surveys, Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Effort Score (CES), and review monitoring are some of the most common ways to tie customer loyalty strategies and measurement. Direct mail marketing can also be used to measure customer behavior. For instance, you can run A/B tests to compare the target audience that received mail with a control group, measure redemption rates, track QR codes, and more.

Step #4. Retarget customers who are ready to leave

An average US business loses around 15% of customers per year. Without paying attention to them, you will soon squander a large percentage of existing customers, and finding new ones isn’t easy. Thus, the reduction of churn rates is an indispensable part of any decent customer retention program. Make sure to find out why your customers leave and what incentives can convince them to stay. Modern marketing automation tools are the most convenient way to monitor bounce rates and launch customized campaigns aimed at retaining customers.

Step #5. Boost digital channels with direct mail marketing

The use of offline and online channels isn’t an either/or choice. Consumers expect equally good customer service across all touchpoints. They adore the combination of comfortable online services with the personalized experience of offline interactions. That’s why direct mail marketing is a great option to power your customer retention program and channels. More about the role of direct mail marketing in customer loyalty strategies and measurement below.

Why Direct Mail Marketing is a Must-Have in Customer Loyalty Strategies and Measurement

First and foremost, direct mail marketing is easy to connect with online channels. Just subscribe to a direct mail marketing automation tool like Inkit, and pick from hundreds of integrations to align mail campaigns with emails, social media, apps, digital ads, and other resources. This turns a simple customer retention program into an advanced cross-channel strategy, where every decision is backed up with data and real-time behaviors. Here are some other reasons why direct mail marketing is essential for customer loyalty strategies and measurement:

• Direct mail marketing based on custom mailing lists feels more personal and trustworthy than online channels
• Direct mail marketing has 10 times higher response rates than emails, paid search, and social media
• Direct mail marketing is no longer difficult to measure and allows you to get critical metrics about your customers
• Direct mail marketing is effective to reduce the number of customers with dunning accounts and retarget consumers that ignore your online efforts

The best thing is that you can start automating all direct mail marketing routines in a few minutes if you subscribe to Inkit. Try out the tool to see how it will benefit your customer retention program.