7 proven strategies for effective B2B customer retention

To paraphrase an old saying: “New customers are silver; old customers are gold.” Keeping customers you already have is less expensive, consumes less time and provides a reliable income stream. Despite this, marketers spend remarkably little effort on customer retention. 

“About how much time and effort, and on a percentage basis, are you seeing being absorbed by retention marketing in your world?” Ruth Stevens asked the audience at The MarTech Conference last fall. “Well, you may be surprised to learn that among most B2B marketers, it averages out to be around 15%.”

This is at odds with a company’s primary objective of acquiring and retaining customers. What makes it odder is that research shows that a significant portion of B2B revenue originates from existing customers. A Forrester report found that 73% of B2B revenue comes from existing customers. So, less than a quarter of B2B revenue actually comes from new accounts.

Dig deeper: Why marketers must move from retention tactics to customer respect

The focus on new accounts comes from sales teams incentivized to pursue them. “Well, of course, our sales counterparts are demanding it,” she said. “You know? Leads. Give me leads.” As a result, it falls to marketing to drive the importance of keeping the customers you already have.

Here are seven ways to keep your most profitable customers.

1. Foundational excellence

 An exceptional product or service, coupled with a seamless and positive customer experience, is the bedrock of customer retention. “Your product/service has to be great, and the customer experience also has to be great,” Stevens said. “All the clever marketing in the world is not going to fix it [if that’s not the case]. It’s not going to keep your customers sticking around if they’re not satisfied and getting real value on these points.”

2. Swift, proactive problem resolution

Quickly addressing customer issues is essential, but not enough. Successful companies actively seek out and resolve problems before customers tell them about them, which can significantly bolster customer loyalty. 

“It’s a good idea for marketers to get involved with their customer service teams,” she said. “Not only to help them solve problems but also to help them analyze where the problems are arising and maybe find substantial issues across the firm that could be fixed upstream and reduce the problems arising later at all.”

Stevens said Michael Lowenstein’s book “Customer Win Back,” has compelling evidence that “customers whose problem was surfaced and resolved turned out to be more loyal than the customers who didn’t have a problem in the first place.”

3. Penetration marketing

Marketing teams can use their skills in data analysis to help account managers find valuable insights that lead to better upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Stevens suggested “using data analytics to develop a list of next best products based on the product purchase patterns from the past.” This can also surface helpful reasons for the sales or account management teams to call the customer. These can include new, relevant product developments or other ideas based on past customer behavior.

4. Defection prevention

Closely monitoring customer behavior can detect early warning signs of potential churn. “Invariably, customers leave behind breadcrumbs that give us an idea of what’s on their mind,” she said. “So if you keep an eye on customer behavior and compare it to past customer behavior, you can really get a leg up on potential defection and take steps to prevent it.” 

5. Automatic replenishment

Changing the right products or services to an auto-ship model makes buying easier for customers. It also lowers the business’s sales costs. “In many cases, this is perceived as a benefit, a convenience to customers,” she said. There are likely many overlooked ways to use this in your business. “But you might be surprised if you look around your company at pieces of the business that might be convertible to this kind of sales process.”

6. Recognizing loyalty at the account level

Businesses can cultivate loyalty among their most valuable accounts by offering unique service levels and other account-level benefits. “One of the really excellent methods for ensuring loyalty or at least recognizing loyalty on the part of our top customers is providing them with special service levels,” Stevens said. “You could have a dedicated 800 number and dedicated reps who are ready to take the calls on a 24-hour basis. You could have some kind of gold service type status for your top customers where they get a dedicated website, for example. There’s lots of ideas here.”

7. Win-back strategies

When a customer does leave, a dedicated win-back team can be instrumental in addressing the reasons for departure and potentially recovering the lost business. Speed of response is a key factor here. “Once you see evidence that a customer is leaving you, you really have to move quickly to try to resolve whatever problem they have had with you and see if you can correct and keep them on board.” 

For customers who have already left, she recommends establishing “a special dedicated win-back sales team” with specialized training and incentives to effectively manage this unique sales challenge.

Dig deeper: Driving growth through data: Optimizing the retention stage

Changing mindsets

Sustaining B2B growth demands a laser focus on customer retention. This requires shifting mindsets and resources towards existing customers. Furthermore, successful retention strategies necessitate seamless collaboration between marketing, sales and customer service departments to ensure a unified and effective approach. Finally, using data analytics and customer insights is paramount for successful targeted retention initiatives.

Embracing these strategies can unlock customer retention’s significant and often untapped potential. This, in turn, leads to enhanced profitability, stronger customer relationships and sustained business success.