9 customer retention strategies – tips for small businesses

Finding customers can feel like an uphill battle at times, and it can certainly be expensive. So how do you make sure that once a customer has visited you once, they keep coming back?

Here, we’ve put together our top tips for how small businesses can grow customer loyalty and drive sales.

1. Get to know your customers

More and more these days people find themselves dealing with faceless corporations and robotic websites. Your business is likely to make more of an impact if you can personalise it to your customers.

That might involve engaging with them on social media or sending personalised emails. If you interact with your customers in person then getting to know them and what they like will help your business feel as if it’s going the extra mile – just for them.

2. Advertise loyalty schemes

These days, few people will leave the house without their Nectar card – it’s one of the most successful customer loyalty schemes ever launched.

Of course, setting up something like Nectar is beyond the capacity of most small businesses, but you can still create a loyalty scheme to tempt customers back. You could go for a stamp card, rewarding customers after a certain number of purchases, or offer them something on the anniversary of their first custom.

3. Offer discounts and giveaways

Everyone likes to think they’re getting something for nothing, which is why discounts and giveaways work so well for promoting customer loyalty.

This can tie into loyalty schemes. If you’re offering a prize draw, you could make this available only to people who have bought something from you in the past month – just make sure you tell them about it in advance.

And always keep your profit margin and ROI (return on investment) in mind if offering something for free.

Keeping customers happy is something the 2022 winner of The Apprentice talked about in a webinar for Simply Business. Harpreet Kaur, owner of a dessert parlour business, said: “Ensure that you’re still making sure it’s financially viable when you’re calculating these discounts, but again don’t be afraid to invest in your customer.”