Published: Sep 02, 2022 | Updated at: Sep 02, 2022

Did you know that it costs 6-7x as much to get a new customer versus keeping one that you already have? The cost of replacing customers and the negative reputation that can follow are detrimental to a business.

Because of reputation and finances, you should be doing all you can as a business to maintain a good customer retention rate.

How do you do this? Well, CRM (customer relationship management) software plays an integral role.

Are you deciding between CRMs like Halsell and ClickUp? What are the best CRM tips that you can use? How will this help you improve your customer retention rate?

Read on for a guide.

Know Your Customers

The first step to improving your customer retention rate is to get to know your customers. If you work from home as a small business, this is probably going to be easier to do than if you are running a large corporate company.

Nevertheless, you can teach free CRM tactics to get to know customers better such as taking notes about them every time you have a phone call with them. Cite something that the customer really likes about your product or service and also cite any complaints or concerns that a customer has.

This allows you to have notes on what you need to do with specific customers. It can lead to noticing more patterns if enough customers have the same likes and dislikes.

That results in the company making more changes or emphasizing one thing they are already doing right. This keeps customers happy, and that will increase the chances of keeping them as your customers. 

Responding to Customers 

This may sound like an obvious one, but actually responding to your customers is a great way to make them feel heard and appreciated. If a customer feels heard and appreciated by you taking the situation seriously, they are likely to stay with you as long as you address the problem. 

However, the demand in response time from customers is quite high. About 13% of people expect a response from a business in the first hour, and 76% of people expect a response in the first 24 hours.

So, assuming you are trying to tackle an issue a majority of customers have, you need to make sure you have a system that allows you to address all customer messages within 24 hours. 

However, if you work remote and are a small business, that can be an overwhelming task if you do not have the manpower to tackle it. This is where CRM properties can come in. 

These are companies that specialize in customer relationship management and can provide you with the help you need. Examples of this include providing virtual assistants, virtual call centers, and more. 

Avoid ignoring your customers, and that will result in them trusting you to handle a situation anytime a problem comes up. 

Get Organized 

The next thing that you need to do is get organized. Keep track of what customers are coming in, what their needs and orders are, how many new customers you bring in, and how many customers are leaving. 

This helps you catch a potential problem before it could possibly blow out of proportion. It can also help you get ahead of problems that could come up in the future. 

How do you do this? Well, as mentioned above, figure out what staffing you need. Also, make sure you know how much demand you have for your product or service and anticipate future demand. 

You can do this by creating lists to organize all of your information. Halsell software can help with this list management, and you can use this on apps like ours that have all of that project management in one place.

Getting organized allows you to have proper data on your customers and a much better idea of how your business is doing. 

Thankfulness and Feedback 

Another thing that you can do is send your customers a departing message once they have completed their use of your service, such as when they order food from your restaurant or check out of your hotel.

Some businesses choose to send emails or text messages to customers thanking them for their stay or visit. Along with that, some companies ask their customers to fill out a survey to rate certain aspects of their experience.

This can include presentation, customer service, crowd conditions, infrastructure, quality of the food, cleanliness, safety, and more.

Thanking the customers lets them know that you appreciate their support for your business. The survey benefits your business because it gives you insight from the customers on what they like and do not like about your business.

Once you get enough survey feedback from customers, you can then act accordingly. Passing these surveys along to customers can help you figure out that you may have a problem that you did not even realize was happening.

Improve Your Customer Retention Rate 

These are just a few things that you can do to help improve your customer retention rate. Get organized, get to know your customers, respond to your customers in a timely matter, and try to get feedback from your customers.

If you do all of this efficiently, it should give you a better idea of what action you need to take.

Implementing and using effective customer relations management software is one of the most important steps you can take in order to achieve goals and success. The folks at Halsell created their CRM with all of these aspects, and more, in mind.

Are you someone that needs help with customer retention but does not have the manpower to do it themselves? Try out Halsell'sCRM software today to get your business in the right direction.