If you're a revenue marketer focused on B2B, there's a pretty good chance that your leadership team is focused on retention marketing.
It's a powerful strategy that can drive sustainable growth and create loyal customers, and every marketer knows that keeping existing customers in place is five times cheaper than bringing in a new customer.
It's also a great tactic for long-term customer loyalty, and there are some best practices that are proven to help revenue marketers excel when it comes to retention marketing.
Understanding retention marketing
Before we jump into the best practices that can set you up for revenue marketing success, let's start with clarity around what retention marketing is.
At its core, retention marketing focuses on nurturing and maintaining relationships with existing customers to encourage repeat business, enhance customer loyalty, and increase lifetime value.
It's about creating an ongoing relationship with your customers to keep your brand top-of-mind and continuously demonstrates the value you provide.
Best practices for B2B retention marketing
1. Personalization leads the way
In today's B2B marketing, personalization goes beyond the standard “Dear [NAME]” to connect with your audience around their specific needs, pain points, and goals.
This is where you'll want to tie in your data analytics so that you're connecting your content to your customers’ behaviour and preferences.
Getting personalization right means increasing the likelihood of engaging with current and future customers by 80%, according to Epsilon.
Hannah Wesson
2. Value is king
Keeping your customers interested in (and, therefore, engaging with) your content only happens when you're continuously offering value. This is another chance to use your hard-earned data analytics to focus your content on providing solutions to your customers’ biggest issues.
Depending on your topics, you'll want to consider everything from white papers and case studies to webinars, how-to guides, blog posts, and social content.
Whatever method you choose, you'll want to deliver consistent, high-quality content that helps position your brand as a thought leader and keeps customers coming back.
3. Feedback delivers data
Whether you're conducting regular surveys, holding focus groups, reviewing win/loss calls, or meeting your clients face to face, never miss your chance to really listen to your customers.
There are important lessons in their feedback, and collecting it regularly not only shows your customers that you value their input but also continues to enhance your ability to make data-driven decisions that can only improve the customer experience.
4. Onboarding sets the tone
First impressions matter, which is why your customer onboarding process can do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to retention marketing. A simple, easy onboarding process sets the tone for your long-term customer relationships, so make sure your onboarding is informative, supportive, and thorough.
This is your opportunity to provide product and service education to make sure your new customers understand exactly how you can help. If it's done well, your onboarding process can reduce customer churn and increase product adoption rates.
Harikrishna Kundariya
5. Connection equals engagement
Email marketing is still one of your best tools when it comes to staying connected with your customers. Use your email to send company and product updates, newsletters, and personalised offers that help remind your customers what you're doing to make their lives easier.
Email marketing is worth the work since, according to HubSpot, email marketing generates $42 for every dollar spent. That's one of the best ROI rates of any retention strategy.
6. Loyalty is valuable
Incentivising your customers to stick around is the heart of loyalty programs. You can do that through discounts, exclusive or early product access, or other loyalty programs designed to trade value for ongoing engagement.
A recent Invesp study found that 69% of customers are paying attention to loyalty programs when choosing where to do business, and if you've ever shopped around for the best airline points before choosing a credit card, you know that's true.
Neha Pujari
7. Proactive support makes a difference
No matter how great your product or solution is, failing at customer support is going to increase your customer churn rate. Delivering an exceptional support experience by proactively addressing issuing and anticipating problems helps your customers feel well taken care of and increases the likelihood they'll stay.
Use CRM systems to track your customer interactions and help your team solve problems faster.
8. What you measure, you master
Making the most of retention marketing means measuring what matters. You'll want to run regular reports on your churn rate, customer lifetime value (CLV), and repeat-purchase rate to understand what's working and where you need to rethink your strategy.
Using predictive analytics tools can help you forecast customer behaviour and tailor your retention strategies accordingly.
Grace Gupta
Leading by example
Companies that are really getting retention marketing right are focused on people over profits. They're putting all their effort into customer education and support, offering valuable resources that ask nothing of their customers.
Think of organisations like Hubspot, that offer free certifications to their customers. Retention-focused teams are also actively engaging with their users to make sure they understand how to get the most out of their products and services.
The better prepared your marketing team is to engage regularly with your customers and continuously revise your approaches based on incoming data, the faster you'll see your retention marketing efforts driving real results.
Retention marketing is essential for B2B revenue marketers aiming to build lasting relationships and drive long-term growth. By personalising interactions, providing valuable content, leveraging feedback, and maintaining excellent customer support, businesses can significantly enhance their retention rates.
Remember, keeping your existing customers happy is just as important, if not more so, than acquiring new ones. As the saying goes, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Incorporate these best practices into your retention strategy, and watch as your customer loyalty and revenue soar. Implement these best practices today and make retention marketing a cornerstone of your B2B strategy. Your customers—and your bottom line—will thank you.
About Heather
Heather Hurd (she/her) is an inclusive senior marketing leader with more than a decade of experience in both agency and in-house marketing. She is currently CMO of Dusk Marketing.
Find Heather on LinkedIn.
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