Customer Retention Rate

Customer retention rate is a critical metric that measures the percentage of customers that a business retains over a specific period. It provides valuable insights into customer loyalty, satisfaction, and the effectiveness of the company’s efforts to retain and engage its customer base. A high customer retention rate indicates that the business is successfully retaining its customers, while a low retention rate may signal underlying issues such as poor product quality, service delivery, or customer experience.

Key Principles

  • Customer Retention: Customer retention refers to the ability of a business to retain its existing customers over time. It is a key driver of long-term profitability and growth, as loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, refer others to the business, and contribute to its overall success.
  • Retention Rate Calculation: The customer retention rate is calculated by dividing the number of customers retained during a specific period by the total number of customers at the beginning of that period, then multiplying by 100 to express the result as a percentage. This formula provides a simple yet powerful way to measure customer loyalty and track changes in retention over time.
  • Factors Influencing Retention: Several factors can influence customer retention, including product quality, customer service, pricing, convenience, brand reputation, and competitive offerings. Businesses must understand their customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points to effectively address these factors and enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Methodologies and Approaches

Improving customer retention requires a strategic approach that focuses on understanding customer needs, delivering exceptional experiences, and building lasting relationships. Several methodologies and approaches can help businesses enhance their customer retention efforts.

Data Analytics

Data analytics plays a crucial role in understanding customer behavior, preferences, and trends. By analyzing customer data, businesses can identify patterns, predict future behavior, and personalize interactions to meet individual needs and preferences. Advanced analytics techniques such as predictive modeling, segmentation, and sentiment analysis can provide valuable insights into customer sentiment, satisfaction, and loyalty, enabling businesses to tailor their retention strategies accordingly.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A robust CRM system is essential for managing customer relationships effectively. CRM software enables businesses to centralize customer data, track interactions across multiple touchpoints, and automate key processes such as lead management, sales forecasting, and customer support. By leveraging CRM tools and capabilities, businesses can improve communication, collaboration, and coordination across sales, marketing, and customer service teams, resulting in a more cohesive and personalized customer experience.

Personalization

Personalization is key to enhancing customer retention and loyalty. By delivering personalized experiences, recommendations, and offers based on individual preferences, behaviors, and purchase history, businesses can deepen customer engagement and foster stronger relationships. Personalization techniques such as dynamic content, product recommendations, and targeted promotions can help businesses create relevant and meaningful interactions that resonate with customers and drive repeat purchases and referrals.

Customer Feedback and Engagement

Listening to customer feedback and engaging with customers regularly are essential components of effective retention strategies. Businesses can solicit feedback through surveys, reviews, and social media channels to gain insights into customer satisfaction, identify areas for improvement, and address issues proactively. By responding promptly to customer inquiries, resolving complaints, and acknowledging feedback, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction and build trust and loyalty over time.

Benefits of Improving Customer Retention

Improving customer retention offers numerous benefits that contribute to the long-term success and profitability of a business.

  1. Revenue Growth: Loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and spend more over time, driving revenue growth and profitability. By retaining existing customers, businesses can reduce the cost of acquiring new customers and increase their lifetime value, resulting in higher overall revenue and profitability.
  2. Cost Savings: Acquiring new customers is typically more expensive than retaining existing ones. By focusing on customer retention, businesses can reduce marketing and sales costs associated with acquiring new customers, resulting in higher margins and improved bottom-line performance.
  3. Brand Loyalty: Loyal customers are more likely to recommend a business to others and defend it against competitors. By building strong relationships and delivering exceptional experiences, businesses can foster brand loyalty and advocacy, driving word-of-mouth referrals and positive reviews that attract new customers and reinforce existing relationships.
  4. Competitive Advantage: Businesses with high customer retention rates are better positioned to outperform competitors and maintain market leadership. By delivering superior value and service, businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors and create a sustainable competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate.
  5. Customer Lifetime Value: Improving customer retention increases the lifetime value of each customer, resulting in higher overall profitability and return on investment. By nurturing long-term relationships and maximizing customer value, businesses can optimize their revenue streams and drive sustainable growth and success over time.
  6. Business Resilience: High customer retention rates provide a buffer against economic downturns, market fluctuations, and competitive pressures. By maintaining a loyal customer base, businesses can weather external challenges more effectively and sustain their performance and profitability over the long term.

Challenges in Improving Customer Retention

Despite the benefits, improving customer retention is not without its challenges. Businesses may encounter several obstacles that hinder their efforts to retain and engage customers effectively.

  1. Customer Expectations: Customer expectations are constantly evolving, making it challenging for businesses to keep pace and meet changing demands. Businesses must anticipate customer needs, preferences, and trends to deliver experiences that exceed expectations and differentiate themselves from competitors.
  2. Competition: In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses face intense competition from rivals vying for the same customers. Businesses must differentiate themselves through superior products, services, and experiences that resonate with customers and create value that competitors cannot easily replicate.
  3. Data Complexity: Managing and analyzing customer data can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for businesses with large and diverse customer bases. Businesses must invest in robust data analytics capabilities and technologies to extract actionable insights from customer data and drive informed decision-making and strategy development.
  4. Resource Constraints: Improving customer retention requires dedicated resources, including time, budget, and personnel. Businesses must allocate sufficient resources to retention efforts and prioritize initiatives that deliver the greatest impact and ROI.
  5. Organizational Alignment: Achieving and sustaining improvements in customer retention requires alignment and collaboration across different functions and departments within the organization. Businesses must break down silos, foster cross-functional communication, and align goals and incentives to create a unified and cohesive approach to customer retention.

Strategies for Improving Customer Retention

To overcome these challenges and improve customer retention, businesses can adopt several strategies and best practices.

  1. Customer-Centric Culture: Foster a customer-centric culture that prioritizes customer needs, preferences, and satisfaction across the organization. Empower employees to take ownership of the customer experience and cultivate a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation to drive customer loyalty and retention.
  2. Data-Driven Insights: Leverage data analytics to gain actionable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and sentiment. Use advanced analytics techniques to segment customers, personalize experiences, and predict future behavior, enabling targeted retention strategies and interventions that maximize impact and effectiveness.
  3. Proactive Engagement: Proactively engage with customers through targeted communications, personalized offers, and value-added services that demonstrate appreciation and recognition. Anticipate customer needs and preferences and deliver proactive support, guidance, and recommendations that enhance the overall customer experience and foster loyalty and retention.
  4. Feedback and Listening: Listen to customer feedback and act on it promptly to address issues, resolve complaints, and improve satisfaction and loyalty. Implement feedback mechanisms such as surveys, reviews, and social media monitoring to capture customer sentiment and insights and use them to inform decision-making and strategy development.
  5. Omnichannel Experience: Provide a seamless and consistent omnichannel experience across all touchpoints and channels to enhance convenience, accessibility, and engagement. Integrate data, systems, and processes to enable a unified view of the customer journey and deliver personalized experiences that meet individual needs and preferences.
  6. Continuous Improvement: Continuously monitor and evaluate customer retention metrics and KPIs to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and optimize retention strategies and initiatives. Implement a culture of continuous improvement and learning that encourages experimentation, innovation, and adaptation to evolving customer needs and market dynamics.

Real-World Examples

Several companies have successfully improved their customer retention rates by implementing effective strategies and best practices.

  1. Amazon: Amazon is known for its customer-centric approach and relentless focus on delivering exceptional experiences. By leveraging data analytics and personalization, Amazon tailors recommendations, offers, and services to individual customers, driving engagement and loyalty. Amazon Prime, with its fast shipping, exclusive deals, and streaming services, has contributed to high customer retention rates and increased customer lifetime value.
  2. Netflix: Netflix uses data analytics to understand viewer preferences and behavior and personalize content recommendations and viewing experiences. By investing in original content and exclusive partnerships, Netflix creates value for subscribers and enhances retention rates. Netflix’s recommendation algorithm, which suggests relevant content based on viewing history and preferences, encourages continued engagement and subscription renewals.
  3. Apple: Apple’s ecosystem of products and services, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iCloud, fosters customer loyalty and retention. By offering seamless integration, interoperability, and continuity across devices and services, Apple creates a compelling user experience that encourages repeat purchases and upgrades. Apple’s emphasis on design, quality, and innovation reinforces brand loyalty and contributes to high customer retention rates.
  4. Starbucks: Starbucks uses its mobile app and loyalty program to drive customer engagement and retention. By offering rewards, personalized offers, and convenient mobile ordering and payment options, Starbucks incentivizes repeat visits and purchases. Starbucks Rewards, with its tiered membership levels and benefits, encourages customer loyalty and increases retention rates by rewarding frequent and loyal customers.
  5. Zappos: Zappos prioritizes customer satisfaction and retention through its legendary customer service and culture of WOW. By going above and beyond to exceed customer expectations, Zappos creates memorable experiences that foster loyalty and advocacy. Zappos’ generous return policy, free shipping both ways, and 24/7 customer support contribute to high customer retention rates and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Conclusion

Improving customer retention is essential for businesses seeking to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. By understanding the key principles, methodologies, and approaches for improving customer retention, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and lifetime value, while also reducing churn and acquisition costs. Through data-driven insights, proactive engagement, continuous improvement, and personalized experiences, businesses can create compelling value propositions that resonate with customers and differentiate them from competitors. As customer expectations continue to evolve and competition intensifies, businesses must prioritize customer retention and invest in strategies and initiatives that deliver long-term value and success. By fostering a customer-centric culture, embracing innovation, and leveraging technology and data analytics, businesses can build lasting relationships with customers and position themselves for sustained growth and profitability in today’s dynamic and competitive marketplace.

Related FrameworksDescriptionWhen to Apply
Churn RateDescription: Measures the rate at which customers stop doing business with a company over a specific period. Churn Rate is a key indicator of customer retention and loyalty.When assessing the effectiveness of customer retention strategies and identifying factors contributing to customer attrition.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)Description: Represents the total revenue a customer is expected to generate for a company throughout their relationship. Customer Lifetime Value helps prioritize customer acquisition and retention efforts.When determining the return on investment for acquiring and retaining customers, guiding resource allocation decisions.
Win-Back StrategiesDescription: Involves targeted efforts to re-engage with lapsed or inactive customers and encourage them to return to doing business with the company. Win-Back Strategies aim to revive customer relationships and reduce churn.When identifying and reactivating dormant or lapsed customers through personalized offers, incentives, and outreach campaigns.
Customer SegmentationDescription: Divides the customer base into distinct groups with similar characteristics or behaviors, enabling targeted retention strategies tailored to each segment’s needs. Customer Segmentation helps optimize resource allocation and messaging effectiveness.When developing retention strategies that address the unique needs and preferences of different customer segments, maximizing the impact of retention efforts.
Retention MarketingDescription: Focuses on building long-term relationships with existing customers through personalized communication, loyalty programs, and special offers. Retention Marketing aims to strengthen customer loyalty and reduce churn.When implementing targeted marketing campaigns and loyalty initiatives to incentivize repeat purchases and foster customer engagement and loyalty.
Customer SatisfactionDescription: Measures the extent to which customers are satisfied with a product, service, or experience. Customer Satisfaction is a key driver of customer retention and loyalty.When soliciting feedback from customers and addressing issues and concerns promptly to enhance satisfaction and minimize churn.
Customer Experience Management (CXM)Description: Focuses on optimizing every interaction a customer has with a company, from initial contact to post-purchase support. Customer Experience Management aims to deliver exceptional experiences that drive loyalty and advocacy.When seeking to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by enhancing every touchpoint across the customer journey.
Predictive AnalyticsDescription: Uses historical data and statistical algorithms to forecast future outcomes, such as customer behavior and churn propensity. Predictive Analytics enables proactive retention efforts by identifying customers at risk of churn.When analyzing customer data to predict churn likelihood and proactively intervene with targeted retention initiatives, reducing customer attrition.
Customer Feedback LoopDescription: Establishes a process for collecting, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback to drive continuous improvement. The Customer Feedback Loop enables companies to respond promptly to customer needs and concerns.When implementing a systematic approach to gather, analyze, and act upon customer feedback at various touchpoints throughout the customer journey.
PersonalizationDescription: Involves tailoring product recommendations, marketing messages, and service interactions to individual customer preferences and behaviors. Personalization enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty by delivering relevant and engaging experiences.When leveraging customer data and behavior patterns to customize communications and offerings, increasing customer engagement and retention.

Visual Marketing Glossary

Account-Based Marketing

account-based-marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy where the marketing and sales departments come together to create personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts. Account-based marketing is a business-to-business (B2B) approach in which marketing and sales teams work together to target high-value accounts and turn them into customers.

Ad-Ops

ad-ops
Ad Ops – also known as Digital Ad Operations – refers to systems and processes that support digital advertisements’ delivery and management. The concept describes any process that helps a marketing team manage, run, or optimize ad campaigns, making them an integrating part of the business operations.

AARRR Funnel

pirate-metrics
Venture capitalist, Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables to understand what metrics and channels to look at, at each stage for the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.

Affinity Marketing

affinity-marketing
Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.

Ambush Marketing

ambush-marketing
As the name suggests, ambush marketing raises awareness for brands at events in a covert and unexpected fashion. Ambush marketing takes many forms, one common element, the brand advertising their products or services has not paid for the right to do so. Thus, the business doing the ambushing attempts to capitalize on the efforts made by the business sponsoring the event.

Affiliate Marketing

affiliate-marketing
Affiliate marketing describes the process whereby an affiliate earns a commission for selling the products of another person or company. Here, the affiliate is simply an individual who is motivated to promote a particular product through incentivization. The business whose product is being promoted will gain in terms of sales and marketing from affiliates.

Bullseye Framework

bullseye-framework
The bullseye framework is a simple method that enables you to prioritize the marketing channels that will make your company gain traction. The main logic of the bullseye framework is to find the marketing channels that work and prioritize them.

Brand Building

brand-building
Brand building is the set of activities that help companies to build an identity that can be recognized by its audience. Thus, it works as a mechanism of identification through core values that signal trust and that help build long-term relationships between the brand and its key stakeholders.

Brand Dilution

brand-dilution
According to inbound marketing platform HubSpot, brand dilution occurs “when a company’s brand equity diminishes due to an unsuccessful brand extension, which is a new product the company develops in an industry that they don’t have any market share in.” Brand dilution, therefore, occurs when a brand decreases in value after the company releases a product that does not align with its vision, mission, or skillset. 

Brand Essence Wheel

brand-essence-wheel
The brand essence wheel is a templated approach businesses can use to better understand their brand. The brand essence wheel has obvious implications for external brand strategy. However, it is equally important in simplifying brand strategy for employees without a strong marketing background. Although many variations of the brand essence wheel exist, a comprehensive wheel incorporates information from five categories: attributes, benefits, values, personality, brand essence.

Brand Equity

what-is-brand-equity
The brand equity is the premium that a customer is willing to pay for a product that has all the objective characteristics of existing alternatives, thus, making it different in terms of perception. The premium on seemingly equal products and quality is attributable to its brand equity.

Brand Positioning

brand-positioning
Brand positioning is about creating a mental real estate in the mind of the target market. If successful, brand positioning allows a business to gain a competitive advantage. And it also works as a switching cost in favor of the brand. Consumers recognizing a brand might be less prone to switch to another brand.

Business Storytelling

business-storytelling
Business storytelling is a critical part of developing a business model. Indeed, the way you frame the story of your organization will influence its brand in the long-term. That’s because your brand story is tied to your brand identity, and it enables people to identify with a company.

Content Marketing

content-marketing
Content marketing is one of the most powerful commercial activities which focuses on leveraging content production (text, audio, video, or other formats) to attract a targeted audience. Content marketing focuses on building a strong brand, but also to convert part of that targeted audience into potential customers.

Customer Lifetime Value

customer-lifetime-value
One of the first mentions of customer lifetime value was in the 1988 book Database Marketing: Strategy and Implementation written by Robert Shaw and Merlin Stone. Customer lifetime value (CLV) represents the value of a customer to a company over a period of time. It represents a critical business metric, especially for SaaS or recurring revenue-based businesses.

Customer Segmentation

customer-segmentation
Customer segmentation is a marketing method that divides the customers in sub-groups, that share similar characteristics. Thus, product, marketing and engineering teams can center the strategy from go-to-market to product development and communication around each sub-group. Customer segments can be broken down is several ways, such as demographics, geography, psychographics and more.

Developer Marketing

developer-marketing
Developer marketing encompasses tactics designed to grow awareness and adopt software tools, solutions, and SaaS platforms. Developer marketing has become the standard among software companies with a platform component, where developers can build applications on top of the core software or open software. Therefore, engaging developer communities has become a key element of marketing for many digital businesses.

Digital Marketing Channels

digital-marketing-channels
A digital channel is a marketing channel, part of a distribution strategy, helping an organization to reach its potential customers via electronic means. There are several digital marketing channels, usually divided into organic and paid channels. Some organic channels are SEO, SMO, email marketing. And some paid channels comprise SEM, SMM, and display advertising.

Field Marketing

field-marketing
Field marketing is a general term that encompasses face-to-face marketing activities carried out in the field. These activities may include street promotions, conferences, sales, and various forms of experiential marketing. Field marketing, therefore, refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field.

Funnel Marketing

funnel-marketing
interaction with a brand until they become a paid customer and beyond. Funnel marketing is modeled after the marketing funnel, a concept that tells the company how it should market to consumers based on their position in the funnel itself. The notion of a customer embarking on a journey when interacting with a brand was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898. Funnel marketing typically considers three stages of a non-linear marketing funnel. These are top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Particular marketing strategies at each stage are adapted to the level of familiarity the consumer has with a brand.

Go-To-Market Strategy

go-to-market-strategy
A go-to-market strategy represents how companies market their new products to reach target customers in a scalable and repeatable way. It starts with how new products/services get developed to how these organizations target potential customers (via sales and marketing models) to enable their value proposition to be delivered to create a competitive advantage.

Greenwashing

greenwashing
The term “greenwashing” was first coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 at a time when most consumers received their news from television, radio, and print media. Some companies took advantage of limited public access to information by portraying themselves as environmental stewards – even when their actions proved otherwise. Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing practice where a company makes unsubstantiated claims about an environmentally-friendly product or service.

Grassroots Marketing

grassroots-marketing
Grassroots marketing involves a brand creating highly targeted content for a particular niche or audience. When an organization engages in grassroots marketing, it focuses on a small group of people with the hope that its marketing message is shared with a progressively larger audience.

Growth Marketing

growth-marketing
Growth marketing is a process of rapid experimentation, which in a way has to be “scientific” by keeping in mind that it is used by startups to grow, quickly. Thus, the “scientific” here is not meant in the academic sense. Growth marketing is expected to unlock growth, quickly and with an often limited budget.

Guerrilla Marketing

guerrilla-marketing
Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that seeks to utilize low-cost and sometimes unconventional tactics that are high impact. First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same title, guerrilla marketing works best on existing customers who are familiar with a brand or product and its particular characteristics.

Hunger Marketing

hunger-marketing
Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy focused on manipulating consumer emotions. By bringing products to market with an attractive price point and restricted supply, consumers have a stronger desire to make a purchase.

Integrated Communication

integrated-marketing-communication
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is an approach used by businesses to coordinate and brand their communication strategies. Integrated marketing communication takes separate marketing functions and combines them into one, interconnected approach with a core brand message that is consistent across various channels. These encompass owned, earned, and paid media. Integrated marketing communication has been used to great effect by companies such as Snapchat, Snickers, and Domino’s.

Inbound Marketing

inbound-marketing
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy designed to attract customers to a brand with content and experiences that they derive value from. Inbound marketing utilizes blogs, events, SEO, and social media to create brand awareness and attract targeted consumers. By attracting or “drawing in” a targeted audience, inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing which actively pushes a brand onto consumers who may have no interest in what is being offered.

Integrated Marketing

integrated-marketing
Integrated marketing describes the process of delivering consistent and relevant content to a target audience across all marketing channels. It is a cohesive, unified, and immersive marketing strategy that is cost-effective and relies on brand identity and storytelling to amplify the brand to a wider and wider audience.

Marketing Mix

marketing-mix
The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.

Marketing Myopia

marketing-myopia
Marketing myopia is the nearsighted focus on selling goods and services at the expense of consumer needs. Marketing myopia was coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in 1960. Originally, Levitt described the concept in the context of organizations in high-growth industries that become complacent in their belief that such industries never fail.

Marketing Personas

marketing-personas
Marketing personas give businesses a general overview of key segments of their target audience and how these segments interact with their brand. Marketing personas are based on the data of an ideal, fictional customer whose characteristics, needs, and motivations are representative of a broader market segment.

Meme Marketing

meme-marketing
Meme marketing is any marketing strategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Microtargeting

microtargeting
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that utilizes consumer demographic data to identify the interests of a very specific group of individuals. Like most marketing strategies, the goal of microtargeting is to positively influence consumer behavior.

Multi-Channel Marketing

multichannel-marketing
Multichannel marketing executes a marketing strategy across multiple platforms to reach as many consumers as possible. Here, a platform may refer to product packaging, word-of-mouth advertising, mobile apps, email, websites, or promotional events, and all the other channels that can help amplify the brand to reach as many consumers as possible.

Multi-Level Marketing

multilevel-marketing
Multi-level marketing (MLM), otherwise known as network or referral marketing, is a strategy in which businesses sell their products through person-to-person sales. When consumers join MLM programs, they act as distributors. Distributors make money by selling the product directly to other consumers. They earn a small percentage of sales from those that they recruit to do the same – often referred to as their “downline”.

Net Promoter Score

net-promoter-score
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of the ability of a product or service to attract word-of-mouth advertising. NPS is a crucial part of any marketing strategy since attracting and then retaining customers means they are more likely to recommend a business to others.

Neuromarketing

neuromarketing
Neuromarketing information is collected by measuring brain activity related to specific brain functions using sophisticated and expensive technology such as MRI machines. Some businesses also choose to make inferences of neurological responses by analyzing biometric and heart-rate data. Neuromarketing is the domain of large companies with similarly large budgets or subsidies. These include Frito-Lay, Google, and The Weather Channel.

Newsjacking

newsjacking
Newsjacking as a marketing strategy was popularised by David Meerman Scott in his book Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Newsjacking describes the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and increase brand exposure.

Niche Marketing

microniche
A microniche is a subset of potential customers within a niche. In the era of dominating digital super-platforms, identifying a microniche can kick off the strategy of digital businesses to prevent competition against large platforms. As the microniche becomes a niche, then a market, scale becomes an option.

Push vs. Pull Marketing

push-vs-pull-marketing
We can define pull and push marketing from the perspective of the target audience or customers. In push marketing, as the name suggests, you’re promoting a product so that consumers can see it. In a pull strategy, consumers might look for your product or service drawn by its brand.

Real-Time Marketing

real-time-marketing
Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.

Relationship Marketing

relationship-marketing
Relationship marketing involves businesses and their brands forming long-term relationships with customers. The focus of relationship marketing is to increase customer loyalty and engagement through high-quality products and services. It differs from short-term processes focused solely on customer acquisition and individual sales.

Reverse Marketing

reverse-marketing
Reverse marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages consumers to seek out a product or company on their own. This approach differs from a traditional marketing strategy where marketers seek out the consumer.

Remarketing

remarketing
Remarketing involves the creation of personalized and targeted ads for consumers who have already visited a company’s website. The process works in this way: as users visit a brand’s website, they are tagged with cookies that follow the users, and as they land on advertising platforms where retargeting is an option (like social media platforms) they get served ads based on their navigation.

Sensory Marketing

sensory-marketing
Sensory marketing describes any marketing campaign designed to appeal to the five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling marketers to design fun, interactive, and immersive sensory marketing brand experiences. Long term, businesses must develop sensory marketing campaigns that are relevant and effective in eCommerce.

Services Marketing

services-marketing
Services marketing originated as a separate field of study during the 1980s. Researchers realized that the unique characteristics of services required different marketing strategies to those used in the promotion of physical goods. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that promotes the intangible benefits delivered by a company to create customer value.

Sustainable Marketing

sustainable-marketing-green-marketing
Sustainable marketing describes how a business will invest in social and environmental initiatives as part of its marketing strategy. Also known as green marketing, it is often used to counteract public criticism around wastage, misleading advertising, and poor quality or unsafe products.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

word-of-mouth-marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing strategy skewed toward offering a great experience to existing customers and incentivizing them to share it with other potential customers. That is one of the most effective forms of marketing as it enables a company to gain traction based on existing customers’ referrals. When repeat customers become a key enabler for the brand this is one of the best organic and sustainable growth marketing strategies.

360 Marketing

360-marketing
360 marketing is a marketing campaign that utilizes all available mediums, channels, and consumer touchpoints. 360 marketing requires the business to maintain a consistent presence across multiple online and offline channels. This ensures it does not miss potentially lucrative customer segments. By its very nature, 360 marketing describes any number of different marketing strategies. However, a broad and holistic marketing strategy should incorporate a website, SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, public relations, in-store relations, and traditional forms of advertising such as television.

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