How to retain customers and increase market share

by | Sep 6, 2023 | Customer Experience

Fire up your CX strategies – it’s innovation time!

If you’ve watched motorsport, you’ll know that the idea is to drive faster than your competitors, while keeping the vehicle in a semi-drivable state throughout the race. That’s the gist, but the process, skills and strategies make or break the outcome.

Imagine your business is a racecar on a winding track. To outpace your competitors, you need a combination of speed and precision. Accelerate by making quick, informed decisions, but be prepared to navigate the twists and turns of customer preferences. While your mind and body focus on sharp turns and hungry competitors, your team should be in the paddocks, calculating your tyre strategy and monitoring your performance. They should have your back.

The combination of these elements can mean the difference between a podium finish and getting sprayed with someone else’s second-hand champagne.

 

Strategies to keep ‘em coming back

Just as in motorsport, strategy is the be-all and end-all of customer experience (CX). Without it, you have a fast car (your business) racing on a track with other racecars (your competitors), without any short- or long-term plan to get to the finish line.

Besides, your racecar doesn’t count for much without tyres, fuel or data.

Here are some strategies to captivate hearts and market territories:
  1. Exceptional CX: Elevate your customer service game by personalising interactions, remembering preferences, and resolving issues like a ninja. Your customers should feel like VIPs in the exclusive viewing booth.
  2. Targeted loyalty programmes: Loyalty programmes aren’t only about collecting points but also about building an emotional connection. Whether exclusive offers, early access, or special events, perks keep customers excited, engaged and eager to stick around.
  3. Continuous engagement: You must nurture customer relationships. Keep the conversation going through social media, email, and even in-app messaging. Share valuable content, product updates, and stories that resonate with your brand and audience.
  4. Customer feedback loop: Remember when your high school crush said you were a good listener? Bring that back, because the information will be much more interesting this time round. Create avenues for customers to voice their opinions, suggestions, and concerns – and really listen.
  5. Quality, quality, quality: Reliability is the cornerstone of customer retention. Keep offerings consistent to instill trust and reinforce your value proposition.
  6. Build a brand story: People love stories, especially if they can relate to them (or see themselves inside them). Craft a compelling brand narrative that connects with your target audience’s aspirations and values. Customers are more likely to stay loyal if they feel connected to your brand on a deeper level.
  7. Social proof: In a world where online reviews reign supreme, positive testimonials and reviews are everything. Ask your happy customers to send or post reviews so you can show off your credibility.
  8. Customer-centric innovation: Don’t just innovate for the sake of it; innovate with customers in mind. Launch products or features that directly address peeves or enhance CX. This shows your commitment to evolving needs.
  9. Seamless omnichannel experiences: Customers want to interact with brands across multiple touchpoints – website, app, social media, and more. Ensure that each platform delivers a consistent experience.
  10. Competitor analyses: If you don’t care about your competitors, what’s the point in beating them? Understand what they’re doing right and wrong, and use this information to guide your own strategies.
Retaining customers and expanding your market share requires creativity, strategy, and a fair amount of customer behind-kissing. Above all else, if you’re not in the competitor’s rearview mirror, you’d better ensure that they’re in yours.

 

Keep the innovation flowing

Here’s how you nurture ongoing innovation:

Step one, remove the hat from your head; Step two, take out the rabbit; Step three, tell the rabbit to think of innovative things.

Easy, right? Sorry. Just like a rabbit can’t appear from any “normal” person’s hat, innovation doesn’t magically happen with a hat trick.

Ready for real tips? Here you go:
  • Research: Regularly conduct surveys, interviews, and feedback sessions to gauge customers’ shifting preferences. The more you understand their needs, pains, and dreams, the better you can tailor your offerings.
  • Trendspotting: Keep your radar tuned to emerging trends. Whether it’s technological advancements, cultural shifts, or industry innovations, being aware of what’s on the horizon helps you adapt before competitors catch on.
  • Make time for thinking at work: Innovation demands creativity and exploration, which is hard when you’re busy with daily tasks. So carve out some time to think about new ideas and solutions, and challenge yourself to examine what others often leave unexamined.
  • Tap into collective knowledge: You can learn a lot from others’ perspectives, experiences, and skills. Be open to feedback, input, and suggestions from your colleagues, customers, and partners.
  • Adopt a “thinking without constraints” mindset: Being innovative often means breaking the rules and going beyond the boundaries of what’s expected or possible. Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail.


Maintaining a competitive racecar is no easy feat. But you and your team can build on the prototype until you get it right. Or ask our CX engineers to lend a hand.
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