Acquiring Customers Is Good Business, but So Is Keeping Them Happy

During the expansion stage, so much of building a business focuses on acquiring customers.

In order to expand, after all, companies need to continue to grow sales and revenue. One obvious way to do that is to continually seek and acquire new customers.

But the one thing that’s sometimes lost in that process is an equally important need to keep those new customers loyal and happy. That’s particularly important for expansion stage software companies, whose marketplace is often convoluted by lookalikes and wannabes in a very transparent web environment.

For those companies, it doesn’t matter if their enterprise model is based on three-year deals or a SaaS offering with month-to-month contracts. It’s all about customer service and keeping your clients coming back for more.

Customer service is a crucial and necessary piece of every business’ success. That’s why OpenView held a Customer Service Forum with Bill Price, author of The Best Service is No Service, to develop a 90-day plan of attack for improving the client experience.

My colleague Firas Raouf wrote much more about Price’s philosophy here. The general synopsis is that customer service should be much more about being proactive than reactive. If you listen to your customers and work to solve your product’s problems before your customers come to you for solutions, there may be very little need for the traditional concept of customer service.

It takes company-wide accountability and shared responsibility to accomplish that, but the reward is happier customers that will stick with your company for years to come. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Be a problem solver

Your customers want to know that you’ll be there to help them with any problems that may arise. If you’re a proactive problem solver, working with your clients until they’re absolutely satisfied with the results, it will create a sound sense of confidence within your customer base.

Keep in touch

Send targeted and relevant letters and e-mails to customers to keep them engaged and aware. You want them to know that you care about their business and it’s a great way to gauge any potential problems that may arise with your product. OpenView marketing analyst Amanda Maksymiw wrote a great blog post on how to create your own company newsletter from a blog. A newsletter can be a great way to reach potential customers, but it’s also a fantastic way to keep your current customers updated on your progress.

Offer renewal discounts

One very easy way to your current customers’ hearts is to offer them ways to save money. With renewal discounts, you help them save a buck and give your business a cash flow boost. For example, with an annual subscription model, offer customers the opportunity to pay $1,000 up front for their renewal, rather than $1,200 over the course of 12 months at a $100 ASP.

Continually Innovate

Soliciting and employing customer feedback through the product management process is essential. With that feedback, you can continue to iterate on your product offering and it will let your users know that you’re listening to their suggestions. That customer engagement builds trust and leads to a longer term relationship.

Price’s book goes in to far greater detail about the need for outstanding proactive customer service as a means to eliminate the need for it altogether. Customer service doesn’t have to be laborious. And if you’re able to keep your current customers happy and loyal, it may even lead to helping you acquire the new customers that all expansion stage companies desire.