Seven ways to expand your customer base
The value of a customer base determines the success of the company.
Thus, businesses are always looking for ways to find, identify, and retain the right customers, which are essential for the growth of the business.
However, even leveraging modern technology,[1] many businesses still struggle to find effective ways to build a solid customer base, specifically acquiring and retaining customers.
This article will discuss what a customer base is, its importance, and the seven ways to expand it.
What is a customer base?
Simply put, a customer base is the group of people that purchase a product or service of a business. These are the customers that frequently engage with one’s business and provide financial value to the company.
Identifying the right customer base significantly helps businesses to make crucial decisions.
Below are the different types of customer bases:
- Loyal customers. Customers with a long-term dedication to the company. They are the gem in the overall sales. They make up the most significant portion of the business’s customer base.
- Recurring revenue.[2] These are customers referred to as active subscribers. They make up the bulk of the business revenue depending on the access to service.
- All customers. Customers who have tried the brand’s product or service at least once in the past year.
Why is expanding the customer base important to your business?
Businesses need new and existing customers. In essence, expanding a customer base is a vital part of establishing the business’s success.
A growing customer base is equivalent to increasing customer loyalty and retention, which leads to more sales and revenue.
Seven ways to expand your customer base
Expanding your customer base can be done in several ways. Here are seven ways you to do so and stay ahead of your competition:
Get to know your prospects and customers
It is important to understand your customers, their preferences, and needs, as they can lead to better insights. These enable you to offer services that are aligned with your prospects’ needs.
Moreover, having an in-depth understanding of your customer’s needs allows you to incorporate them into product roadmap planning and create efficient ways to market to target consumers.
Provide excellent customer service
Nowadays, customers expect excellent customer service from the brand they are engaging with. One misstep by the enterprise can result in churn.
But if your business offers great customer service, you will be able to reap the benefits of customer loyalty and retention, which has a significant impact on your bottom line.
According to Hubspot’s recent study, 93% of customers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience.
Create freemium offers and incentives
Offering freemium offers and incentives are a great way to attract the attention of potential customers, which can help grow your customer base.
Some examples of freemium offers and incentives include discounts, free memberships, templates, and free trials.
Promote business on social media networks
Another important way to expand your customer base is to promote your business on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Some customers will head to your business’s social media pages to get others’ feedback before engaging with your business.
Taking advantage of social media is essential. This provides businesses with the ability to reach a large customer base at little to no cost.
Adopt customer service tools
Your customer service team must leverage some tools that help in handling increased customer demand.
Some tools can automatically organize and distribute incoming customer requests, which makes it easier for customer service representatives to do their tasks.
Essentially, customer service tools help in expanding customer service without the need to hire new staff.
Collect customer feedback
Businesses should acknowledge all kinds of feedback, whether it is positive or negative.
Gathering customer feedback is vital for expanding the customer base as this will tell if the business is doing well and what needs improvement to increase customer retention.
There are many ways to collect customer feedback. One example is through surveys. Surveys are great since they provide your business with qualitative and quantitative customer data.
Measure and manage the total customer experience
Before dealing with actionable insights in attracting, retaining, and expanding the customer base, you should look at a holistic view of the total customer experience.
This includes the overall interaction of customers and your business, often through products and services and long-term relationships.
Establishing a solid customer base
Customers are considered the lifeline of any enterprise. Thus, the sustainable growth of any business is achieved through acquiring and expanding the customer base.
Expanding the customer base will essentially take some time but will eventually bring value to the company. With the right strategies, you can reap significant benefits which can help grow your brand and overall business.
Get started with the seven ways mentioned above, as they will help establish and expand the customer base for your business.
Article References:
[1] Modern technology. Tassey, G. (2000). Standardization in technology-based markets. Research Policy, [online] 29(4-5), pp.587–602. doi:10.1016/s0048-7333(99)00091-8.
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