Customer Retention: The Ultimate Guidebook to Reduce Customer Churn

The best customers are the ones who keep coming back to you for more.

They choose you over competitors and help boost your earnings.

And this makes it clear why customer retention plays a significant role in business success.

Don’t you want to build meaningful, long-term, and revenue-generating relationships with your customers?

A study by Harvard Business Review found acquiring a new customer costs anywhere between 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one.

Your business may be small or large, but consumer retention strategies are equally critical for both.

And, applying these retention strategies will take your business a long way.

What is customer retention?

“Customer retention is a simple concept—happy customers who feel important and are regularly communicated with, in the right way, will keep coming back.”

Strategically, the main focus is to keep the customers coming back and purchasing your products repeatedly.

In simpler terms, retain your customers so that they stick to your product or company and do not choose other competitors in the market.

What are the benefits of customer retention?

Even though customer acquisition or customer satisfaction stands essential for the long-term success of any company or product, retaining customers does play the key role.

But why is retaining customers so important, and what’s all the hype about, you may ask?

To start with, an Invesp study shows that the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60%-70% more than acquiring a new customer.

Now, let’s put all doubts to rest with the benefits –

• Increase in repurchasing behavior:

Repurchasing and customer retention have a direct, positive relationship.

Buyer retention leads to repurchasing leads to increased turnover as customers will keep returning.

Hence, a positive relationship will have a tremendous impact on business.

• Declined price sensitiveness:

Retained customers are loyal to the company or product.

To them, the company/product meets their demands.

That’s why they find it challenging to give up with a minor increase in price because the customer benefits they get outweigh the change.

It makes them more likely to accept a price rise.

• Positive word of mouth:

Satisfied and loyal customers advertise your product for you by positive word of mouth.

Word of mouth is considered a powerful marketing tool even in the modern business age. Prospective customers are more likely to believe a fellow customer’s recommendation over a brand’s self-advertising.

Without much effort and money, it turns out to be an economically beneficial method with better results.

These are just some of the various benefits that customer retention provides.

Other advantages include decreased costs for acquiring new customers, strengthening the unique selling proposition(USP), getting qualitative feedback, and more.

How to calculate customer retention rate?

Measuring customer retention rate is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your retention efforts.

It helps you gauge the pulse of your business, assess the health of customer relationships, and harness the power of loyal customers.

This simple yet insightful metric also helps determine how well you have retained customers over time.

Let’s dive into how you can crunch the numbers.

Customer retention rate formula

Customer Retention Rate = {(Number of Customers at End of Period – Number of Customers Acquired During Period) / Number of Customers at Start of Period} x 100

Steps to calculate

1. Choose your time frame: Decide whether you’re looking at monthly, quarterly, or annual figures. This sets the scope for your analysis.
2. Count your customers at the start: Tally up the total number of customers you had when you kicked off the chosen time period. Every loyal patron counts!
3. Track new arrivals: Keep tabs on the number of newcomers who joined your ranks during the specified period. These are the fresh faces adding to your customer base.
4. See where you stand at the end: Take a headcount of your customers at the end of the period. This includes your faithful regulars and the newcomers you’ve welcomed.
5. Apply the formula: Plug the numbers from steps 2, 3, and 4 into the customer retention rate formula.
6. Crunch the numbers: Calculate the percentage to unveil your customer retention rate.

By regularly calculating and monitoring your buyer retention rate, you’re not just crunching numbers—you’re gauging the effectiveness of your retention strategies and identifying opportunities for improvement.

How can businesses retain customers?

Now that you know much about retaining customers and its benefits, let’s talk strategy.

Customer retention strategies are the plans you make to retain the customers you’ve acquired.

It includes developing programs to increase customer loyalty and decrease turnover.

We’ve already established that retaining customers is much more important than acquisition.

But the question arises – how can you retain customers?

Why should businesses focus on customer retention?

As mentioned earlier, the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60%-70% higher than acquiring a new customer.

So, it’s quite clear that, customer retention costs less.

Additionally, retained customers become brand advocates bringing in more customers. And, these customers tend to stick around owing to the power of word of mouth.

But it’s not just about the profit.

Customer retention is vital for getting to know customers, resolving their issues, offering them better services, and creating a lifelong bond with your customers.

The long-term result of any customer experience strategy is to develop and grow business value.

And this value is gained through customer acquisition, retention, and growth.

Over to you!

A product or company is about providing services or acquiring customers and retaining them by elevating their experience.

Increasing sales and profitability by investing less is key to business growth, and customer retention helps achieve both.

The main goal of customer retention is to create positive relationships with loyal customers and detach from unprofitable and unethical customers.

Try applying the strategies suggested above and see your eCommerce business bloom.

BTW if you have any trusted tricks/ strategies/ tools that have helped you retain customers in your business, feel free to share them with us in the comments.

Customer retention FAQ

What is high customer retention?
High customer retention refers to a business’s ability to retain a large percentage of its customers over a specific period. Typically, a high customer retention rate indicates that a significant portion of customers continue to purchase from or engage with the business repeatedly.

What is an example of customer retention?
An example of customer retention could be a subscription-based service offering exclusive discounts or rewards to long-term subscribers. By providing ongoing value and incentives, the service encourages customers to remain loyal and continue their subscriptions.

How to retain more customers?
To retain more customers, businesses can focus on providing exceptional customer service, personalized experiences, loyalty programs, proactive communication, and continuous engagement through various channels such as email newsletters, social media, or mobile apps.

What is an acceptable churn rate?
An acceptable churn rate varies depending on the industry, business model, and specific circumstances. Generally, a lower churn rate is preferred, but what is considered acceptable can differ. For subscription-based services, a churn rate below 5% per month is often considered acceptable, but businesses should aim to minimize churn as much as possible.

What metrics should I use to track customer retention?
Key metrics to track customer retention include customer retention rate, churn rate, repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value (CLV), and net promoter score (NPS). These metrics provide insights into customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the effectiveness of retention strategies.