Guest Blog: Love the Ones You’ve Got: Retention Vs. Acquisition in the World of Mobile Marketing

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague Sophorn Chhay writes about how mobile marketing will impact the world of customer service. This is an important technology we should all be paying attention to. – Shep Hyken

Customer service is undoubtedly an essential part of achieving any kind of success, but what happens when you have limited resources and have to make a decision between focusing on the customers you already have and acquiring new faces – with newer, perhaps deeper, pockets? The battle between customer retention and customer acquisition is both universal and unflagging, but when it comes to mobile marketing, customer service, and the best way forward…well, we clearly have a favorite. Here’s why you need to love the ones you’ve got, and more importantly, how to do it.

The Bottom Line

Depending on the source, experts estimate that, over the lifetime of a consumer, it costs between 3 and 30 times more money, time, and energy to acquire a new customer than it takes to retain an existing one. Those who favor acquisition likely hang on to the old “the grass is greener” argument, but the potential of the unknown just can’t compare to the proven potential of those consumers you already have on your side. Focus on fostering those relationships, upselling, and encouraging satisfied customers to spread the word on their own, and you’re thinking smart in more ways than one.

If You Want Loyalty, Reward it When You Get It

Relationships are funny things; love is supposed to be unconditional, but nobody wants to shower affection on somebody who shows them little consideration or care in return. Business relationships aren’t so different. If you have consumers who have been with you for years, shop with you regularly, or frequently refer customers, a loyalty club or other rewards program is stellar – not to mention mutually beneficial – way to recognize their allegiance and prove that you are, indeed, paying attention. Some 90 percent of mobile users enrolled in SMS loyalty clubs said they felt they had benefited from their participation. They’re getting pre-launch access to products, invites to VIP events, coupons, and so on, and you get their continued business. Truly a win-win situation.

Open Up a Dialogue – and Keep It Open

Much like your significant other, most consumers just want to be heard. That’s why Yelp has gotten so incredibly popular – not because people love to vent, although they certainly do, but because so many businesses didn’t care what their consumers were saying until those same consumers had the ability to say it in a very public way. Now people will Tweet their discontent or plaster it all over your Facebook wall, but instead of looking at that as a negative, look at it as an opportunity to become a better business and please the people who have already invested their time and money in you. Not keeping up your end of this conversation is one of the biggest mobile marketing mistakes you can make.

Above All, Believe in Customer Support

Experts say that you can’t script sincerity, and that’s especially true of customer service, but you can figure out ways to make your customer service more sincere. That may sound circuitous, but it’s not. Customers can sniff out fake sincerity faster than you can roll your eyes on the other end of the line, but really put consumers first – and build your business practices to reflect that – and clients will sense that, too. How can you get ahead, customer service wise, in the digital age? Try converting to SMS. Some 61 percent of call centers will offer some type of text-based support in 2016 because that’s what consumers are asking for. Think about it: no hold music, no waiting for an answer to a simple question, and on the business’s end, no employing a room full of people to go through a series of greetings and questions just to confirm a delivery date or supply a product spec.

When you’re running a business, it’s hard not to focus on building your client list as big as it can possibly be, but if you’re running a successful business, you know that the smart bet is on loving the clients you’ve already got.

What’s Next?

Have you implemented SMS as part of your client retention strategy? Make sure to share them with us in the comments below!

Sophorn is the marketing guy at  Trumpia, the most complete SMS software with mass text messaging, smart targeting and automation.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: Have You Thanked Your Customers Today?