A growing customer base is an excellent sign of business success. Customer growth starts with consumer-based strategies that highlight the fact that some customers bring more profits.
Any business should want to up its customer growth. Doing so grows your business overall. Learn customer growth strategies with our guide.
Set a Customer Growth Goal/Plan
It’s one thing to want to grow your business and another thing to walk the talk. Before you start, you need to figure out where you want your customer growth strategies to take you.
Set goals to create a foundation and road map for your efforts. A good plan should focus on ensuring fewer churn rates and increasing loyalty.
Be realistic on growth expectations and your capacity. Use a customer growth calculator to predict growth and the time it will take to reach your target. You want accountability as well as preparedness from your team.
Analyze Competitor Consumer Growth Strategies
There’s a huge chance your target customer buys from your competitors. Your existing customer may also leave you for competition if your strategy is weak.
Competition is a great thing if it motivates you to innovate and improve. Regardless of your brand strength, stay on top of your game by constantly studying your rivals.
Analyze their long-term and short-term strategies and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Establish what exactly it is that customers need and create unique offers to lure them.
Stand Out From Competitors
If you want to get new customers, you need to show your uniqueness in the market. Show the world how your product, service, and approach are different from the rest.
It’s too expensive to try to impress every customer. The more laser-focused your brand is, the easier it will be to gain credibility in a crowded market. Build your image as an expert by demonstrating uniqueness.
Choose a short and sweet name that makes your brand memorable. Create a unique visual brand identity to make it easier for customers to find your products. Differentiate your products and make your customer service a cut above your competitors.
Do Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Differentiation makes your product distinct and recognizable. But, a big part of selling any product is presenting it to an interested buyer. Figure out who is a good fit for your service before launching your marketing campaigns.
For instance, Netflix targets the youth and middle to high-income families. South Airlines markets itself as a low-cost, no-frills, short-distance carrier. Now, think about your ideal customer.
What is their age, income, education level, gender, location, interests and behavior? Create a personalized message that resonates with your target buyer. Customer growth strategies pay off when the customer feels valued and prioritized.
Streamline Consumer Experience
Consumer experience is the lock, stock and barrel of customer growth. Great consumer experience attracts, engages, converts and keeps. It can also turn customers into brand ambassadors.
Jeff Bezos say that if you make your customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. But if you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they’ll tell 6,000 friends.
Make sure your policies put the interest of your customers ahead every time. Encourage customer feedback and reward employees who receive positive customer service ratings. Orient new employees on your customer service culture and have refresher training to improve customer service standards.
Also give your team the freedom to commit to exemplary customer service. Let them give out discounts, rewards, upgrades, gifts, technical support, etc.
This starts with hiring right and build a customer-centric team. Find empathetic team members who enjoy fixing problems and listening to customers.
Sell to customers on value rather than price. Show them the tangible and intangible benefits they’re set to enjoy by buying from your business. You should breakdown the cost that they’re likely to incur if they don’t pick your service.
Partner With Complementary Businesses
Customer growth can be slow and also costly. You may spend a lot of resources but not see any impact on your customer base. Consider partnering with competitors or other businesses within your industries to reach new customers.
Partnerships can mean one business ceases to exist or both partners reap the rewards. But if you’re focused on business growth, you will want to remain in a position of strength.
Smart Use of Sales Channels
Sometimes the efforts you make to attract new customers may end up fruitless. Possibly, old ways of making sales have reached their optimal capacity. Mabe your strategy has become predictable.
If that’s the case, what do you do to get new customers? Start thinking beyond direct sales to grow your revenues. Expand your business using sales channels or third-party teams/marketers.
Sales channels can include resellers, distributors, affiliate partners, value-added providers, influencers, or retailers. Their role is to support your marketing efforts and extend your reach to new customer bases.
Create a Customer-Based Loyalty Program
It’s much easier keeping existing customers than finding new ones. Existing customers can boost your visibility and convince new customers to join your brand. Don’t overfocus on attracting new customers at the expense of encouraging loyalty.
Build consumer-based strategies that focus on sincere relationships with your customers. Brand loyalty occurs when customers feel part of the brand. You must appreciate and value their input into your business.
Create a loyalty-based program to encourage repeat business and referrals. Give out bonuses for repeat subscriptions or adopt a point-based reward system. You can keep customers informed and connected through newsletters.
Research and Expand Into New Markets
Consider expanding into new markets if you have a unique, scalable service or product. Explore markets that your competitor has yet to consider.
The easiest way to reach new customers and expand your reach is via e-commerce. Create an e-store or build a website and enable online ordering. You can also use e-commerce platforms like Amazon and maximize their global audience.
Stay Alert to Spot New Customer Growth Opportunities
Business growth is full of challenges. Constant growth is possible if you exploit any new customer growth opportunities. These customer growth strategies will get you started on the path to a successful business.
For more tips and advice on running and growing your business, check out the rest of our blog.
