As subscription makers, you know how hard it is to convince customers to take a risk on a new subscription service. You also know how hard it is to get people to stay. And you know the dangers of complacency. Based on these factors this is why retention marketing is so important.
What is retention marketing?
You can think of retention marketing as the actions you take to promote and educate your customers about what you are willing to do to maintain a positive business relationship. Another way of thinking of retention marketing is as an engagement strategy.
subscription service has to be a conversation. It has to be a two-way street. No one likes to be you know to not even children. People want you to acknowledge their life experience. They don’t you to ask them to ignore everything that they have experienced in the past.
Retention Marketing needs to be consistent with retention positioning.
As you know from a previous segment, retention positioning is how you want your customers to subscription makes your retention strategy. It’s your customer’s perception of how much you care about maintaining a positive business relationship. While retention marketing is the activity that you engage to let them know how far you are willing to go.
Retention Marketing Message
The retention marketing message is the narrative that you create to make a case for why they should stick with your subscription service. It’s the verbiage that you use to convey your retention positioning.
Retention Marketing as a success factor
The results of your retention marketing can be seen in your exit interviews. You’ve done it well then your customers will not say that the reason that they are leaving is that you don’t adequately engage with them.
Churn is the nature of the beast when it comes to selling subscription services. People will leave. And some of them will tell you why. In doing so, they do you the biggest service they can do apart from staying.
Retention Marketing Channels
You can use all of the marketing channels that you currently use to promote your subscription services to gather feedback on your willingness to retain your customers. However, those channels which allow for a back and forth provide the best opportunities.
Broadcast Channels work well for establishing the rationale for your retention positioning. And the repetition will how you to make a case for your place in your customer’s hearts.
Broadcast Channels also provide you with the means to displace incumbents. You can reposition their message so that there is room for you. Now you have to be prepared for some pushback from incumbents as your efforts start to gain steam.
Interactive Channels come in handy for honing your retention marketing message. It’s the natural place to monitor how things are going and what’s working. Interactive Channels also serve as your early warning systems for indications that things are changing.
Conclusion
Retention Marketing represents all the things you do to show your care about keeping your customers. It’s the promotions you do and the actions you take on the feedback you get.
Zachary Alexander