We are going with the assumption that by now you've done your research, and concluded that Salesforce meets your business needs. That also means that you were able to attract visitors to your website, ramped up your networking techniques,  got lots of business cards, and increased your social media presence. You might have also collected enough data for leads and converted them into customers. But your customers cancel their accounts after a month or so. It’s just not for them. But a scenario arises when your customer tends to cancel their accounts after a while. Maybe because they think it's not for them or maybe your competition has something to do with snatching your clients under your nose. With that kind of intense competition and customers that are always looking for a good deal, you have to put the everyday tools to retain your customers into practice thus improve your Salesforce customer retention.

Customer Retention Rate (CRR) is what tells you if your procedures are managing to keep your existing customers intact and making them want to keep using your products and services. The main aim of most companies lately have been on closing leads with the help of Salesforce, which is not a bad thing, but this conversion process is a result of a lot of money and effort.  Which brings us to this next point that customer acquisition can cost 5 to 25 times more than customer retention for different types of industries. We think that is a reason enough to hold on to the reliable customers you've got. If it's not motivating enough for you then look at the research from Bain and Company that has discovered that a 5% rise in customer retention results in a 25% increase in profit. 

Customer Retention in Salesforce

Customer retention is the process of not losing your customers in the long run. It involves every method a company would implement to prevent customers from leaving for your competitor with similar products or services. Businesses use different approaches such as customer loyalty and brand loyalty to win customers back or retain them. The first move of the customer retention process starts with the initial contact between the customer and company and runs throughout the entire extent of this relationship. An example of this would be when a client may start this relationship when they “like” your social media page. That relation between you and your customer won't end unless they suddenly unlike your page or other similar activities like ignoring your email advertising efforts and removing themselves from your subscriber’s list.

On the other hand, retained customers are those who didn't lose their trust in your brand and are pleased with your product or service. So, they will most probably tell their experience with your company to their friends, colleagues. In return, your brand will have genuine referrals which have a higher conversion rate. Genuine clients would also give you an authentic review and contribute to positive feedback. Their review would, therefore, be much helpful and reliable than those that you get from survey or market research.

Why is Customer Retention important?

When customer retention strategies are implemented by sales teams, revenue tends to go up while the cost goes down. This is a typical situation in which every business is likely to operate. The thing is acquiring new customers costs seven times more than retaining the existing ones.  The probability of converting a new lead into a customer is 5  to 20 per cent while there is 60 to 70 percent chance of converting an existing customer into a repeat customer. The bottom line, It makes better sense for any business to focus on customer retention, from a financial point of view. 

But customer retention is not by any means that simply because businesses have to keep on gaining their customer's trust by prioritizing their needs and loyalty. This is why companies these days are working to retain the customers they already have than to procure the new ones.  Luckily, Salesforce can help you make this whole process easy and achievable. It can be strategically used by sales teams to develop customer retention cost, sales, and ultimately earnings. Here is a list of few prominent ways to use Salesforce CRM to Boost Customer Retention. 

1. Take advantage of Customer Data and personalize

Due to your relationship with your clients, you might have gathered a lot of information on them. And if you have, then you’ve also coordinated this customer-related information into Salesforce. You would now be able to take control of the client relationship and. Why? Since clients need to feel exceptional and special and they love it. This way you would be able to take charge of the client relationship and use the information to do things like customizing your emails so that they sound right to your customers.

2. Improve Customer Service

The essential part of customer relationship management is providing proper and on-time service to their customers. Based on your past relationship with them, the odds are you will be able to hold your end of the bargain for your loyal customers. The post-sales processes are very fundamental to delivering your obligations to the customer and build upon the customer relationship. Implementation of Salesforce Service cloud makes a company's customer support as productive as could be under every condition. 

Client Interactions are not supposed to be limited to just sending exciting offers and discounts. However,  a large part of it incorporates carefully dealing with their issues. Using the Salesforce Service Cloud, the company can get to the relevant data faster and control the status of the issue by being prepared. It gives all of you credible contact elements that are useful to instantly get in touch with the client and handle the issue at hand quickly. 

3. Use Social Media to reach your customers

According to Gartner, Failure to respond to your customers via social channels can lead to a 15% increase in the churn rate for existing customers. Therefore you have to be responsive on the social media platforms, for instance, if your customers are sending their enquiry on Twitter via tweets, answer them on Twitter. The next thing you could do is use  Twitter’s Advanced Search feature to keep track of these interactions. To ease it up, you can make searches based on keywords and let the feed refresh every five minutes. You can type in your reply right away or insert an automated response for later. There are also customer social profiles within the Salesforce dashboard that gives you information to your customers' social media profiles.

The whole point is, If you are considerate enough to interact with your customers in the way they feel most comfortable, you’re more likely to keep up with customer acquisition plans. 

4. Recognize and utilize the loopholes

The two main reasons why clients leave are- postponed administration and lousy client support. Salesforce Einstein Analytics can help you reach further into client behaviour patterns and draw useful bits of information from that. Salesforce Lightning platform, on the other hand, can ease up the post-sales process and serve in a more customized manner that takes care of the delayed response problem. 

For a company, it is an easy task to track the buying behaviour and every interaction of a customer. It gives you knowledge in regards to re-established interest so you can catch up on this chance. That information can be used for timely identification of key points and reconnecting with customers to help them address customer concerns quickly.

5. Use AppExchange apps and tools

Timeline manager app: Cloud Analogy’s Notes and Timeline manager app helps keep track of existing clients, leads, opportunities, timeline conversations in emails, notes, attachments, SMS, Calls/Meetings, etc.

Desk Sync by Cloud Analogy:  It syncs Salesforce Accounts and cases with your Desk.com customer and cases. You can migrate your Salesforce accounts from Salesforce to Desk.com and avoid the otherwise tedious processes of uploading and downloading.

Feedback Forms: Salesforce CRM has several out-of-the-box features and tools along with sites and communities to implement feedback, survey forms, etc. It lets you keep in touch with customers who may have something important to say such as feedback and suggestions on which your business can improve their customer retention strategies. 

Multi Utility by Cloud Analogy: It will get you all essential utility tools at your fingertips. Using Multi Utility by Cloud Analogy, you can make the most out of useful tools such as Time zone clocks, Task Manager, Todos, Calculator, etc.

Conclusion

Customer retention is the biggest asset and most cost-effective way to impact your revenue. But the competition is fierce out there, a customer does not need to stick with you if someone provides a better product to them. The marketers nowadays are savvy, they know how to utilize the potential of data to personalize customer experiences, add value, and truly cater to the needs of the customer.  It’s the small, personal touches that matter, they can either make or break a long term relationship. Now that you know that the cost involved in acquiring a new customer is more than maintaining an existing one.  You can use the above ways to improve your customer retention rate and obtain new ground with your customers or you can let Salesforce consulting companies do that for you more efficiently .

Evon Technologies, a Salesforce development company in india offers end-to-end Salesforce solutions ranging from implementation, consulting, migration, support, and enhancement. Our Salesforce consultants are experts in optimizing customer support processes that will help you in implementing the best customer retention techniques. To learn more about our Salesforce implementation solutions, contact us or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..