Are you looking for ways to improve your company’s customer retention? It is a known fact that customers are the key drivers of any business. With a strong customer base, your business can reach new heights.   

Earlier this week, we caught up with Pooja Priyadarshini – Head, Startup Business Development at MoEngage Inc, and spoke at length on why early-stage startups should use customer retention as a growth strategy.   

MoEngage is a customer retention platform that gives ventures a unified view of their user base. This helps ventures automate marketing efforts, increase customer lifetime value and customer retention.   

You can view your user properties, demographic details, transactions, usage patterns, engagement et and aids in increasing customer lifetime value and customer retention. 

Essentially, customer retention is all about converting your early customers into repeated buyers/users. When your business has a website or a mobile app, it becomes crucial for you to have a measure of how many users come back to your app and at what intervals.   

It also helps you build amazing relationships with your customers. You aren’t just another website or store. They trust you with their money because you give them value in exchange.   

Higher user retention = higher lifetime value, better customer satisfaction, and secure a good Return on Investment. User retention metrics differ for each business. In the case of a social media app such as Instagram or Facebook, you can expect your consumers to come back regularly. In the case of health and lifestyle apps such as Practo, the user would probably use the app only when they’re sick.   

Here’s how you can boost your customer retention rates:  

1) Get a sense of your user churn rate. Churn rate is the rate at which consumers stop using your app/website. It is the rate at which they stop doing any business with your company.   

Derive this for your company by drawing cohorts using analytical modules from marketing automation tools such as MoEngage. It is common that the majority of churns happen in the first week and flatlines post that. You have to understand and implement good strategies else you may end up losing potential loyal customers. Learn why your users are uninstalling your apps and engage with them proactively.   

2) Deliver a great omnichannel experience at every stage of the customer life cycle. From the minute your customer uses your website or app, you must analyze their behavior and how they engage with your platform. With this, you can segment users and engage them with personalized messages that you can send them through various digital channels such as in-app messages, text messages, emails, social media, push notifications, etc. Having six minimum touchpoints such as these will give you higher conversion rates.  

Run customized journeys for your newly onboarded users. Compose user life cycle campaigns that activate, nurture and re-engage customers across all messaging channels. Gain deep insights into the entire user journey at a glance using MoEngage’s tools   

For example: From the moment a user installs your app you can send them a welcome message. If they make purchases or use the services in 24 hours, you can refrain from sending them any notifications. If they haven’t made their purchase within 24 hours, you can send push notifications or emails. Using MoEngage’s AI, you can check if your users convert better through push notifications or emails.  

3) Personalisation is key. Always offer your customers a personal touch. Show them what they want to see and speak about what resonates with them. You also have to be timely. Don’t bombard them with a lot of personalized information. Only give them what they want.  

For example: If a user goes onto your website to purchase shirts but the shirts are out of stock, you can start by sending them relevant, personalized, and timely notifications. You can send new product launch alerts, restock alerts, coupons or discount offers, etc.  

It is these moments of hyper-personalization that ensure engagement is going to be driven 2X.   

You can also deploy personalization based on regional localization.  

Educate your users and be resourceful. Help them learn the benefits of your platform and empower them to get the most out of your app.