How to Retain Your Customers

How to retain your customers - from apps to local businesses

From digital products to restaurant visitors, retention is always a good strategy to keep business sustainability while looking for new customers.

What is retention?

Think of a smartphone app, like an app that takes photos to your documents and converts them to pdf for later use. That’s a pretty good feature right off the box and maybe just enough for the app to be used several times by the same user. That value for money that the user perceives is normally make-or-break in terms of retention. In this case, it’s a utility tool that always comes in handy, so it is definitely worth it to keep the app on the phone and use it once in a while.

That user is retained; there’s enough utility to keep returning to the product. Retained users are a lot easier to convert / monetize, but that’s for a different article.

Retained users are something that all businesses must pursue: they normally cost 10 times less to maintain than the price to acquire new users.

In the crowded app World, these are the best-practices:

To improve organic downloads and increase download rates on paid acquisition:

Be clear when stating what the app does and where’s the added value for the user. App description must be transparent and straight to the point.
Use the screenshots real estate that all the app stores offer to showcase the product in real-life scenarios.
If the app is going to be Global, localize it in all the possible languages, both the app and the app store’s product page.

To retain users that already installed the app:

Use an in-app communication tool (with push notifications and in-app messaging) to communicate with users from day 1. It can be as simple as a thank you message. Can also be used to upgrade to paid users.
Offer something after some sessions. This will definitely increase retention.
Address all reviews – positive and negative – and avoid robotic replies.
Last but most important, have a solid piece of software with a valid use-case.

And this is also valid for brick-and mortar businesses, too.

Imagine that you are ready to open a restaurant. These would be my acquisition + retention tactics from day 1.

Before opening day:

Check local radios for advertisement spots. Usually, this type of advertisement has a very reasonable cost.
Produce two types of leaflets to communicate the opening: 95% of them just promoting the restaurant and inviting for a visit; the remaining 5% contain a 15% discount on the first visit. Pay someone to distribute them in the surrounding area.
Create a targeted Meta Ads campaign, segmenting people that normally engage with restaurants, foodies, “in a relationship” and living in a 5Km radius. Choose appealing images from the restaurant and the food.

Now prepare yourself for a successful opening. The first acquisition effort is done, and these clients will be the ones to be retained and support your first months of business, along with new walk-in customers.

On the opening day, be prepared to visit all tables and thank the new visitors individually. For the lucky ones that got the discount leaflet, honor that and give them an additional 10% off for the second visit. Pick a business card, write 10% off on the back and sign it. This will speak directly to their foodie hearts and ensure a high level of retention.

Also, for all the other customers that had the trouble to visit you in the first week, offer them dessert vouchers for the second visit. This will have a small impact on the balance sheet, but since restaurants must ensure a food cost no higher than 35%, it’s perfectly doable and the payout will be noticeable in the short-term.

In short, acquiring clients is probably the hardest thing to do when promoting a new product or service. But if the quality is good and the customer perceives that value, retention is normally an organic step that involves little to no effort from us.