Best Ways To Increase Customer Retention During Inflation
Best Ways To Increase Customer Retention During Inflation
Every business is a victim of inflation. And it really becomes challenging at times to maintain high customer retention and experience financial stability. Are you having the same concern? Keep reading and we promise that you will have a great takeaway.
The inflation rate is rising exponentially over time. If you check out the current inflation landscape, customer prices have increased by 8.5%. As of the latest Consumer Price Index 2022,
- Energy prices have increased by 32%. This includes fuel oil (70.1%), gasoline (48%), electricity (11.1%), and natural gas (21.6%).
- Food prices have increased by 8.8%.
- Shelter prices have increased by 5%.
The figures mentioned above are just a few examples of market inflation. If you dig deep into the market, you will find more. One of the major consequences of the high inflation rate is customers leaving their brands in search of more cost-effective services or products. Therefore, it is nothing wrong to say that all businesses regardless of their size and type are been affected by inflation.
Okay, let’s now come to the point!
How can you increase customer retention at the time of inflation?
Brand loyalty and customer retention go hand in hand. If you succeed in building strong brand loyalty, retaining existing customers, and capturing more new potential leads will become a child’s play. Trust us, there is no rocket science in this. Let’s check out the following ways that can actually help you out at the time of inflation.
Even our experts suggest these result-driven strategies to help clients grow their customer base. You can certainly get in touch with us for more information.
1) Provide attractive product discounts or freebies:
One of the common natures of customers is that they easily get attracted to discounts and freebies. Products at a discounted price and exclusive offers often convince potential customers to make an immediate purchase. In fact, this is one of the genuine ways to enhance brand loyalty that in turn encourages customers to buy their desired products or services.
Many experts have concluded that companies offering discounts and free gifts are more likely to deal with inflation. They can decrease their cart abandonment rate and simultaneously boost sales without affecting their bottom line.
However, it’s true that there are situations when companies find it difficult to offer attractive discounts. In such cases, you can simply build an effective customer retention strategy that can compel your prospects and existing customers to rely on your brand.
Need help? We have our experts ready to help you out with your requirements based on your customer insights.
2) Run engaging reward programs:
Freebies are always attractive and so are the reward programs. According to many customers, these reward programs stimulate their interest to make the desired purchase over and over again even during the time of inflation. This is all because of the rewards or incentives they receive after participating in these programs.
Reward programs excite customers to make multiple purchases. During the time of inflation, customers usually become more selective about brands. Thanks to these loyalty or reward programs for leaving no stone unturned to seek customer attention in a short time.
Are you interested to run engaging customer loyalty programs across digital platforms? You can certainly consult with our digital marketing experts to try out these loyalty programs on digital platforms.
3) Do not compromise the quality of products or services:
Customers always look for the best product at a fair price. And during inflation, their expectations reach extreme heights. Hence, another best way to enhance brand loyalty and hold back all your customers is by maintaining high-quality in your services and products.
Many often we find businesses decreasing their expenses on the supply chain and other business essentials to fight inflation and witness a stable customer base. Definitely, it’s a good approach. But you need to ensure that such approaches do not affect the quality of your products or services for which the customers lean on your brand.
You can also try out other ways to keep customer prices down without compromising the quality. But in either case, maintaining quality should be your prime objective to avoid a poor business reputation.
Hey guys, the key strategies to retain customers do not end here. There are many more to explore. Keep reading!
4) Integrating CRM software:
As we mentioned earlier, the rise in inflation hasn’t hindered customer expectations. Rather it has added fuel to it, making it difficult for businesses to exceed customer satisfaction and gain high retention rates.
Modern customers prefer brands that offer seamless communication throughout their journeys. Besides the standard quality of products, they demand a peerless customer service experience to rely on a brand. Hence, CRM software appears in the scenario.
A CRM software is well-designed to foster customer-business relationships. It helps businesses get complete detail about a customer. These include – purchasing history, payment details, contact details, and other data shared by the customer. One of the specialties of CRM solutions is you can keep track of these little things and help customers with a smooth hassle-free journey.
It is true that when prices of products go higher, startups and small-scale enterprises pay less attention to marketing. Integrating CRM with marketing automation enables every business to capture high potential leads, streamline communication, and target the right audience to make relevant purchases. Indeed, these tools are best to help startups and large enterprises in building high customer engagement.
Need custom CRM software development for your business? You may contact our experts and share your requirements to get the best solution.
5) Monitor your customer behavior:
Customer satisfaction is another important aspect to gain high brand loyalty during inflation. And the only way to exceed this is by monitoring customer behavior, gaining better customer insights, and making necessary optimization in your business process.
Multiple ways are there to keep a track of your customers and learn about their demands and priorities. For example, you can use several social media monitoring tools that allow users to monitor customer feedback on social media platforms, customer review sites, and different forums. The better you learn about your customers, the better you can address their pain points and eventually come up with customer-centric products or services even in this phase of inflation.
6) Empathizing customers:
Keeping your customers satisfied is quite difficult during these challenging times. However, you can’t even avoid this as it is directly connected with your brand loyalty and high customer retention. The best way to enhance the customer satisfaction level is by empathizing with customers.
Instead of simply listening to your customers, show your customers that you really care for them. You can list down their pain points, understand their problems, and try to fix them in a short time. Customers always appreciate quick and accurate responses from a business. Hence, this particular approach will take no time to seek the attention of buyers.
Note: One of the prime steps to grow your business during inflation is by adopting a customer value optimization strategy. At Brainium, our experts work on the facets of customer lifetime value i.e. customer experience and customer retention to help businesses thrive during inflation. You can certainly reach us to strategize your business at the time of inflation.
7) Add flexibility to your business:
It is true that today’s customers are fickle-minded. Their requirements change over time and so does their behavior. Hence, it is important to monitor customer behavior (as mentioned above) and simultaneously makes your business flexible to retain targeted customers.
Is your business flexible to meet the needs of all your customers? If not, make sure your business adopts this characteristic in order to build strong brand loyalty and strengthen the customer base.
Read More:
Why Customer Value Optimization Is Important For Your Business?
Take Away
Inflation is inevitable! Even government finds it hard to control and put a cap on the growing economy. Hence, there are least chances for avoiding the consequences in businesses. However, a true business person knows how to stay active even during a crisis. You can simply follow the above-mentioned customer retention strategy to enjoy sustainable business growth.
Are you looking for an expert to discuss your concern? You can definitely consult with our experts to get a better business strategy.