Getting customers takes work. A lot of work.
Reports consistently show it costs from five to 25 times more to gain a new customer than keep an existing one (depending on the research you choose).
So why do so many service providers make it harder on themselves by only thinking about attracting new customers?
Retaining customers is where it’s at.
Customers no longer compare you only to your direct competition. They compare you to the best service they have ever received from anyone.
—Forbes
How Thryv Can Help You Retain Customers
Lucky for you, Thryv is a do-it-all software platform that places just as much emphasis on retaining existing customers as it does on finding new ones.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
At the heart of any good customer retention strategy is a CRM. Preferably one built with an emphasis on the “relationship” instead of just “management.”
Building a relationship with your customers means you use your CRM to store your customer information for things like keeping track of significant life events — such as birthdays, children’s names, pets or the anniversary of the date they first became a customer.
Then you can use marketing automation to send them discounts or offer loyalty treats. Create promotions that reward them for being a customer. Or, give them content that inspires or educates them.
By focusing on a relationship, instead of just a transaction, you demonstrate you care about them as a person and are invested in their future well-being.
That way, when the time comes for them to choose a service provider, you’ve stacked the odds in your favor.
The average repeat customer spends 67% more in their 31st-36th months of their relationship with a business than in months 0-6.
—Bain & Company
Document Storage
Running a business and managing relationships often require a lot of paperwork. Client intake data, privacy forms, estimates, contracts or invoices.
Your customers trust you with very sensitive information. And they trust you won’t be careless with it.
So it’s crucial you have the ability to store documents in the cloud, and limit employee access to only those who need certain information.
Thryv’s cloud-based document storage feature means you won’t lose any sensitive client data. And you’ll always have the most recent version of any document at your fingertips.
That alone can set your customers’ minds at ease and reaffirm their choosing you as a provider.
Online Appointment Setting
Time is anyone’s most precious commodity. So show that you respect not only your customers’ time, but your employees’ as well.
Let customers choose their preferred service day and time by using Thryv’s online booking feature. That way, no matter when they remember to make an appointment, your “scheduler” is always there.
Customers will appreciate the ability to book and reschedule when it suits them.
And because you can sync multiple staff members’ calendars through Thryv, overbooking becomes a thing of the past. You’ll be sure you’ve allotted enough time to service your customers well and keep your employees happy.
ThryvPay®
Payment flexibility is here to stay. Gone are the days when cash traded hands in a store, or when you had to slide a credit card through a reader. The need to be physically present when making payments is a thing of the past — in fact, the more contactless, the better!
Now, customers want more payment options. Specifically, more digital payment options. ThryvPay can help you meet those flexibility demands by letting customers choose their preferred payment method.
In addition to ThryvPay, customers can use credit, debit, PayPal, Braintree, Venmo, Square, Stripe, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
ThryvPay offers competitive flat-rate fees for credit cards and low ACH fees. Customers also can pay from their mobile device using Thryv’s Pay by SMS Text. And now ThryvPay’s new partnership with Wisetack offers financing for larger purchases, giving your customers even more flexibility and time to pay.
Meeting customers where they are with the payment methods they prefer will give you more points in the retaining customers column.
Customer Communications
Across the breadth of customer communications, there is one primary rule: make sure customers are being heard. Whether it relates to their communication preferences or the feedback they give you, demonstrating respect for their point of view is paramount.
First, communicate on their terms. Ask them how they prefer to receive communications — whether snail mail, text, email or social media.
Offering options and letting them choose the vehicle doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With Thryv’s centralized inbox, your customers’ electronic communications come through in a single stream and are organized as if coming from the same place.
Second, encourage them to not only communicate with you, but about you. Let Thryv’s reputation management tool helps you seek customer feedback and respond. And yes, you do need to acknowledge their comments.
But don’t just send canned responses — reply to them as a person, and offer to make things right if needed.
Recognizing the validity of their perspective will show you care about what they think and their experience as a customer. There’s no better way to demonstrate you are in this relationship for the long haul.
Third, make sure you stay top of mind. Be present in their social channels. Customers today get to choose the way they consume information. If you don’t exist in the social channels they use, you pretty much don’t exist at all.
But you don’t have to spend your days writing and posting social content. (Because let’s face it, social media can consume all your time if you let it.) Let Thryv’s social media engine help you create and post to every social channel through one place.
Retaining Employees
This might be the least-obvious method of all. But a customer’s experience with your company — your brand — is all about the interactions they have.
And even though you might have a good customer relationships, are you ensuring they have the same experience with everyone in your organization?
It’s the people on the front lines of those interactions who ultimately influence your customers’ opinions.
When you choose Thryv to manage the end-to-end customer experience, you’re also making it much easier for your employees to do their jobs.
Online estimates and invoicing? Check. Project and job tracking? Check. Easy appointment setting, reminders and scheduling? Check, check and check.
With Thryv, you eliminate all the busywork and paper shuffling. It demonstrates you care as much about the employee experience as you do the customer experience.
And when your employees feel valued, they’ll make your customers feel valued as well. A customer retention win-win.
Companies that work to actively engage employees have customer loyalty rates 233% higher than those that don’t.
—Aberdeen Group
Retain Customers The Easy Way
Honestly, it doesn’t take much to keep your customers happy and coming back. But too many small business owners let the challenges of running a business get in the way of retaining customer relationships.
With Thryv, you can rest assured we care as much about making your customers happy as you do. And we feel the best way to take care of your customers is to take care of you.
So let us free you from the minutiae of running a business. That way you can focus on why you went into business in the first place — doing what you love for the people you love doing it for.
