As a digital marketing agency, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and have to worry about all the operations, resources, tools, and everything else that goes into running a successful business. It’s until the damage surfaces where we stop analyzing and understanding what went wrong to provide a mediocre reactive solution.
We often forget about client churn and rely on a continuous flow of client acquisition but come quarterly business review and realize that client retention has taken a toll on your agency’s expected business growth.
What is Client Retention?
Well, suppose you thought this is all about putting out fires. In that case, you’ll have to change that perspective immediately because, in reality, it’s all about keeping your current clients happy and engaged to ensure they are contributing to a high lifetime value for your agency.
Why Is It Important?
You worked very hard in acquiring your current clients; the goal is for them to stay with you, have an outstanding customer experience, and continue to obtain value for their business from your service or products. As they say, “it’s easier and less expensive to retain customers than to acquire them.”
Nurture clients, and they’ll be more engaged with your brand, translating into an increase in their lifetime value. As Forbes would say, “don’t spend five times more attracting new customers, nurture the existing ones.”
Benefits From Proactive Retention Efforts
Your retention strategy is how you build client relationships and maximize revenue for each one. By making client retention a habit, you won’t have to stress reactive retention efforts because they will eventually be a thing of the past.
Proactive retention:
- Delivers your agency a predictable and ongoing stream of revenue.
- Increases the probability of selling to an existing client than to a new client.
- Keeps your clients engaged.
- It can help double your revenue growth.
Identifying Clients for Retention
There are specific businesses worth keeping an eye on to ensure you are implementing proactive retention strategies.
Seasonal Clients
Who are they?
A business that only offers products or services during certain seasons of the year. They may stay open year-round while making the majority of their sales during their prime seasons.
Retention Strategy
- Mapping out a calendar with a timeline of strategies will keep the client engaged in sustaining PPC services year-round.
- You’ll need to adapt to seasonal trends by planning marketing strategies for campaigns ahead of time. Use account year over year trends to forecast and draw up a marketing plan.
Pro Tip: Google Trends is a great tool - Keep competitor research frequent to ensure the marketing plan is top of the game for the given season.
- Good timing and defining where to narrow or expand PPC marketing budgets will help your client gain optimal ROI.
Performance Seeking Clients
Who are they?
These businesses tend to settle for consistent performance rather than growth because they want to maintain the same budget or even save marketing dollars if possible. A shift in results is unsettling and usually alarms this type of client into doubting the PPC marketing strategy in place.
Retention Strategy
- Setting expectations with the client with a set plan of action based on KPIs promotes trust.
- Delivery of reporting depicting KPIs the client wants to focus on is necessary to give them complete visibility on performance.
- Execute significant changes to the account only after having gone over them in a review with the client, so you set expectations.
- Communicating drops in performance immediately rather than hoping they won’t find out.
- Providing a contingency plan to any new strategy applied when optimizing their account.
High-growth Clients
Who are they?
These clients consistently expect new strategies and ideas to expand their business online. You must know the difference between growth and scalability, which are top priority goals in PPC marketing for this type of business.
Retention Strategy
- Propose and put into play PPC marketing strategies that will yield repeat customers.
- Know the clients’ audience, identify the most relevant keywords, and develop a strategy that will convert leads into sales.
- Set a timeline that marks adding in new campaign types and networks for PPC marketing expansion.
Strategies to Boost Client Retention
Clients perceive fast, friendly, and consistent customer service as the gold standard. It is a stepping stone to form lasting relationships with clients that are loyal to your brand.
Effective Communication
Establish strong communication with the client will allow for better insights to draw up the best PPC marketing strategies for their business.
Client Experience in Account Growth
Being an advocate for your clients’ business allows them to experience confidence in the strategies you implement. PPC marketing management and strategy must resemble and prove an ultimate business solution where your value proposition is translating into the client’s perceived value.
Knowing your clients’ needs will position you to emphasize marketing efforts that most benefit them.
Some tips towards continued account growth:
- Pinpoint pain points throughout the trajectory of marketing efforts for your clients so that they know that you can adequately match marketing strategies with business needs.
- Acquiring feedback often gives you insight into how your clients’ experience will make any adjustments necessary to enhance their experience.
Loyalty Makes Them Brand Ambassadors
Creating and establishing a trustful relationship throughout the client journey later translates into brand loyalty yielding referrals as another stream of client acquisition. By delivering a great experience to your clients on your services, you promote the confidence in recommending them.
Some Tips:
- Aligning business goals and setting expectations will influence the way they recommend you.
- Throw in an incentive to the referral process when a great experience alone does not cut it.
- Gift cards, discount on monthly management fee, a month of a free new service.
Crucial Stage: Onboarding in The Client Journey
Setting a clear path and expectations for the client during the onboarding process establishes perceived confidence and value in your services.
The biggest impression your client has about your services happens during the onboarding phase of their journey.
Ensuring you have a well-established onboarding process is crucial for client expectations.
- The onboarding phase is usually the first 90 days of experiencing your services.
- Create a plan, monitor the results, and aim for the best service possible.
- Focusing on the journey rather than the clients’ destination will make all the difference.
Summing It Up
Strengthening client retention does not happen overnight. It is achieved by nourishing a constant relationship and providing an unforgettable experience to the client through a beneficial partnership with you.
Make sure you are focusing on these key essentials to client retention success:
- Effective communication
- Proactiveness in client business growth
- Gaining loyalty and perceived value
- Promoting a seamless client journey
We’d love to help you focus your time and energy on improving relationships and experiences within your book of business; it can be a powerful way to achieve the business growth you’ve been seeking in digital and PPC marketing.
