It is a proven fact that most customers churn due to the fact that were unable to connect with a brand.
A study by Retently found that 53% of all customer churn can be attributed to a lack of supportive Customer Success. Within this 53%, almost half was from poor onboarding (23%), with poor relationship building (16%) and inadequate customer service also to blame (14%).
The key link in all these factors is communication. Engaging with, and reaching out to customers at key touchpoints can greatly reduce the churn rate – which in turn can increase profits dramatically.
The first step: Be Proactive
When a customer has been successfully onboarded, it should by no means signal the end of outreach.
There should be no assumption on the part of the marketer that additional sales will follow – this is often a cause of churn. As with any relationship, your interaction with customers needs to be actively nurtured on a regular basis.
Be proactive by thinking of reasons to reach out to customers when it matters:
- Do you have new products or promotions for certain seasons which they might find interesting?
- What about the possibility to up-sell your product or service?
- How about a general ‘checking-up’ outreach which inquires how your customer is getting on with your services.
This last point is perhaps the most important. Showing your customers that you care about them and aren’t always seeking to sell something else is vital to ongoing relationships. Talk with and engage with them through interviews or surveys to find out:
- What your customers expect to gain out of your relationship.
- What issues or painpoints they are encountering.
Part of delivering on expectation is preempting these challenges that can get in the way of the customer’s desired outcome.
The second step: Plan your outreach
Now you may know the reasons for reaching out to existing customers in order to reduce churn rate. Next we want to consider the format of your customer outreach. How are you going to engage with them and seek to ensure their continued custom?
Think visually – 90% of the information that comes to the brain is visual. The reason for reaching out to reduce churn is to engage, inform and entertain your customers. Therefore, you want to do this effectively and efficiently.
Let’s take an example:
You are an Insurance company outlining a new plan you think a customer may be interested in. Reaching out with pages of solid text explaining the changes isn’t going to make customers feel inclined to engage.
A better way to engage for this company would be through video. Consider this: When both visual and auditory senses are stimulated, recall rate increases to 68%.
This is because someone would rather watch a video than sift through information; visual mediums are a more entertaining and engaging form of content.
The third step: Start building your relationships through personalization.
So we know why and how we are going to reach our existing customers. The final step in the journey is to plan how to make the content personalized, to reduce churn.
According to a study by Digital Trends 73% of consumers would rather do business with brands that uses data to deliver a personalized experience. Meanwhile, 88% of consumers are happy for their data to be used if it means they are getting a more personalized shopping experience.
What does this mean for you?
It means that more customers are happy for their data to be used in delivering an optimal experience. If you can engage them at key touchpoints with content that you know will increase retention, you will see a reduction in churn rate.
What’s more, implementing personalization makes the shopping experience more efficient. Recommending products based on relevant browsing history of customers is saving them time and energy of searching through your site.
As we’ve mentioned in a previous blogpost on personalization, the creating of bonds and closer customer relationships is successful because it mimics the closeness of local brick-and-mortar stores. In the same way people form relationships with local vendors, personalization in video outreach builds familiarity and loyalty.
The tailored solutions offered by Fliva give a personal and informative means of engaging with your audience at every crucial customer touchpoint. Get in touch to find out more.