All you need to know about customer retention in today’s uncertain times

Our very own Anastasia, NetHunt’s Chief Customer Officer, gave a speech at the Sales Innovation Expo 2023. She covered customer retention and talked about why it’s important in today’s turbulent and uncertain times.

Missed the speech or couldn’t attend the event? Don’t worry. You can still learn all the secrets. In this piece, we gathered the most prominent Anastasiia's insights. Let’s dive in!

The background

Customer success is vital. New sales have been decreasing over the past few years. Companies rely more and more on recurring revenue or repeat business.

The math is simple. Converting new clients can be a challenge. So, you need to work extra to keep the existing customers happy and paying to stay in business.

Be demanding when hiring the customer success team

Your customer success team is the first and most crucial point of contact between your business and its clients. They’re on the front lines of speaking to your customers, solving customer issues, building lasting relationships, and upselling clients when the time is right.

That’s why building a robust customer success team is a must.

Technical knowledge is a must-have, but that’s not all. At NetHunt, we hire people who also demonstrate empathy and have a problem-solving mindset. This helped us build a team that understands and advocates for the needs of the customers.

Use technology to enhance customer experience

Our company, for example, has playbooks for the customer success team. These documents define scenarios for working with clients. They include templates for surveys, assessment calls, and onboarding roadmaps.

Additionally, our team uses AI to summarise long conversations. We then put them into our CRM. This ensures the main points of the conversation are always on hand.

We’re also heavy NetHunt CRM users ourselves (surprise-surprise).

NetHunt CRM’s automated sequences, macros, and email campaigns keep our communications with customers effective yet personalized.

We integrate technology into various aspects of customer interaction. From automated responses to customised service recommendations, all processes aim to enhance the customer experience.

Centralise communication for cohesive interactions

Omni-channel communication is paramount in managing customer interactions.

Remembering all client conversations can be challenging. That’s why your team needs a hub to consolidate all communication channels. It has to include emails, messengers, calls, website chats, etc. That’s why a CRM that works with different channels is so important.

Luckily, our team already has NetHunt CRM because… well… we are NetHunt CRM. However, it’s worth looking into a solution that can do the same for businesses looking to stay on top of their customer retention processes.

Centralisation is essential for providing seamless support and understanding the customer’s journey. Any company needs a unified view of customer interactions across various platforms to deliver consistent and efficient service.

Cultivate honest relationships

Transparency, even in acknowledging the limitations of our product, is vital to NetHunt's long-term success and credibility.

Sometimes, clients can outgrow your tool, and it's essential to be honest about it.

Establishing long-lasting relationships matters for future business, even if it means parting ways. Honesty is critical in dealing with clients. Avoid fake expectations and always offer workarounds.

Be proactive in customer engagement

Don’t solve problems — prevent them. One way is to anticipate potential issues and educate clients about the product features.

This proactive approach has been a cornerstone of NetHunt’s strategy. It helped us ensure that customers are well-informed and supported even before issues arise.

After all, whether the problem gets solved or not, your customer's experience is still impacted. Therefore, it’s better to educate your customers and provide them with the knowledge and help they need to minimise the problems they will run into in the future.

Understand and act on churn indicators

Addressing the issue of customer churn, Anastasia shared insights into how NetHunt identifies and acts on churn indicators. It’s important to understand signals of customer dissatisfaction and act swiftly to address them.

Here’s our strategy for combating churn:

  • Define churn indicators specific to your business. Practice proactive renewal management for subscription-based models.
  • Continuously educate your customers. Use webinars, newsletters, and 1:1 meetings.
  • Establish a customer community. For example, on Facebook or Discord.
  • Tell your customers about your company’s values

Wrapping up her speech, Anastasia reflected, "While chasing new sales is vital, pivoting our focus towards retention strategies is equally crucial in these challenging times." We hope our insights will be helpful to your business. Good luck in your customer success endeavors!

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