Customer Acquisition and Retention Impacts of Post-COVID-19 World

2. Customers are the fuel that keeps the business running. Keeping your customer base intact in times like these should be the number one priority of every business. That’s not all, businesses also need to keep pushing themselves to expand their customer base, too. Increasing the customer base while retaining existing customers will help businesses increase their revenue. However, businesses should keep in check while doing this as you don’t want to spend a fortune. You need to keep the customer acquisition and retention cost under the budget. To achieve this, owners, teams, and managers need to have a solid customer acquisition and retention strategy in place. • The process of gaining new customers and growing your customer base is called customer acquisition. • It requires influencing and convincing the potential client to convert into a paying customer by purchasing the offered products or services. • Customer acquisition lays a solid foundation for business growth. • Customer acquisition is often misunderstood as a strategy you need to follow while starting a new business. • The truth is, you need a different customer acquisition strategy at each stage of the business. • Customer acquisition is a crucial process that involves multiple sales and marketing roles, goals, and channels. Some of them are • Customer acquisition is a crucial process that involves multiple sales and marketing roles, goals, and channels. » Recognizing ideal customers » Defining the targets and objectives » Selecting customer acquisition channels » Developing a unique strategy for each channel » Communicating with customers » Measuring and improving strategy » Measuring and improving strategy • Actions, strategies, and activities taken to keep the existing customer on board by boosting their brand loyalty are called customer retention. • After you have acquired the customer by implementing a strong customer acquisition strategy, you need to retain the customer by using various engagement tactics. • The ultimate purpose of customer retention is to increase revenue without increasing the marketing overhead that will be needed to acquire new customers. • Many businesses, especially small- and medium-sized ones, experience setbacks as they lose their balance between the acquisition and retention processes. • They focus their strategies on acquiring new customers. This in turn increases the marketing overhead and does not translate into profit. • This results in losing the client due to poor or ineffective customer retention strategies. • Customer retention strategies are targeted at providing a personalized experience to the customer and satisfying their needs to drive customer loyalty. This process includes: • Many businesses, especially small- and medium-sized ones, experience setbacks as they lose their balance » Producing content that solves customer problems » Reaching out to your customers on a regular basis » Keeping customers informed of your business’ latest developments » Calculating and tracking customer retention rates » Optimizing customer service and support » Offering customer loyalty programs » Producing content that solves customer problems

3. • Since most customer acquisition and retention is based on the customer’s behavior, it is important to understand how customer behavior has been affected by recent incidents. • No other incident than the pandemic has affected customer behavior to such a great extent. • The pandemic has changed the regular behavior of the customer; that is why it needs a special focus. • According to this behavior, every business will need to tailor its marketing strategies accordingly. • Here are some post-pandemic trends that will help you drive customer strategies: » » Developing stockpiling and amassing habits » Focus shifts towards value and essentials only » Attraction towards subscription and recurring billing businesses » Enhanced customer service demand » Improved brand loyalty 1) Covid-19 has Accelerated Digital Transformation • People are using technology for everything — be it work, play, or to stay connected. • Most people used the internet as a prominent channel to shop for the product or service they needed. • Businesses need to focus on this shift as customer acquisition and retention strategies that are based on physical location are not as effective as they used to be. • Businesses need to address this shift and modify their strategy accordingly. • Businesses need to address this shift and modify their strategy accordingly. • According to research from IDC, two-thirds of the CEOs of Global 2,000 companies will shift their focus from traditional, offline strategies to more modern digital strategies to improve the customer experience before the end of the year, with 34 percent of companies believing they’ll fully adopt digital transformation within 12 months or less. • This explains the ever-increasing digital spending. The net global spending on digital transformation is expected to increase to more than $2 trillion by 2022! The net global spending on digital transformation is expected to increase to more than $2 trillion

4. 2) Brand Strengthening with Marketing • “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” — Branding pioneer Walter Landor. • Your brand value is really determined by the customer’s perception of your product. • For example, people perceive Apple, Nike, Google as big brands due to their high brand equity. • Brand equity is what customers perceive of your products and services based on what they interpret of your brand. • Brand equity is what customers perceive of your products and services based on what they interpret • Assigning a numeric value to a brand is difficult, but a strong brand generates considerable business benefits from: » Awareness » Credibility » Reputation » » Customer satisfaction • All these things will help you in customer acquisition and retention strategy. 3) Offer Virtual Products or Services • Converting your products and services into virtual offerings will yield long-term benefits for your business. • By virtually connecting with your customer, you can provide them with a personalized solution which in turn, increases customer retention. • After the pandemic, you need to support your customers remotely and for that, you need to analyze your business and utilize the technology to keep supporting your customer. • After the pandemic, you need to support your customers remotely and for that, you need to analyze • This will increase the brand loyalty among customers, helping you to increase customer retention and decrease acquisition cost. 4) Engage Through Social Media • Considering the number of people using multiple social media platforms, it is very important for business owners to utilize the power of social media for customer acquisition and retention. • There are many platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and all these platforms should be a part of every business acquisition and retention strategy. • These platforms have changed the way of brand communication. By utilizing these platforms, you can provide a personalized experience to your customers as they are more comfortable in those spaces. By utilizing these platforms, you can provide a personalized experience to your customers as they are • This increases the customer experience and loyalty towards your brand.

5. 5) Communicate Your Company’s Value • The pandemic has changed the way you communicate with your customer. • These days, it is not about generic content, it is more about valuable insights that will help your customers during these times. • This will help your customers have a better experience and build loyalty towards your brand. 6) Need Help? • We know that these are tough times for any brand. • Customer acquisition cost is rising and retaining the customers is tougher than ever. • With our well-defined process and proven track recorder, we achieved wonders for our clients and helped them achieve digital maturity by focusing on data. • Drop a few lines at hello@northpeak.io