No Customer Retention Plan? Your Company is Leaving Money on the Table

We’ve all heard that it’s easier—and more cost-effective—to retain an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. And yet, many companies still don’t have a clear plan to keep customers committed long-term. 

So why does that happen? And more importantly, what can you do about it? Let’s dig into the reasons—and share some practical, low-lift retention tactics to help you keep your customers coming back for more.

The selling mentality

If you’re operating without a customer retention plan, you’re not alone. This is an incredibly common gap. The focus often leans heavily on generating new revenue and hitting sales goals, leaving retention on the back burner.

Yes, selling is vital. But here’s the issue: once a deal is closed, some companies stop thinking about how to keep that customer. That leads to customer churn, and suddenly, your sales team is stuck replacing lost customers instead of building on their wins.

 When that cycle continues, you start to see:

• Customers leaving. After a poor experience, up to 89% of consumers jump ship to a competitor (goodbye reputation, hello uphill sales battle).
• A strained sales team feeling the constant pressure of having to replace customers.
• Slowing growth.
• A negatively impacted bottom line.

Not ideal. But(!) there’s a fix. Shifting from a purely selling mindset to one that includes simple retention activities leads to better outcomes and way happier customers.

Customer retention made simple

Retention doesn’t have to be resource-heavy or expensive. In fact, simple, time-effective efforts go a long way in maintaining customer satisfaction. Customers who feel valued are more likely to stick around—and eventually become your biggest advocates. That means less pressure on your sales team, and warmer leads coming in from people who already love what you do.

Still not sold? Here’s what we’ve seen our customers accomplish once they start implementing retention strategies:

• Customers stay longer, saving you from the costly churn-and-replace cycle
• You get more referrals and fewer damaging reviews
• Customers give feedback that helps improve your business, product, or service
• Loyal customers are more likely to expand their contracts or make repeat purchases

According to a report from HubSpot, increasing customer retention by just 5% can boost profits by 25–95%.

Start your strategy here

Not sure where to begin? Try one or two of these retention ideas to test what works best for your business:

• Send a quarterly customer survey
• Create a 1-page onboarding doc (bonus: it doubles as internal training material)
• Build an FAQ page that reduces back-and-forth and aids your support team
• Film a 30–90 second “Meet the Team” video to humanize your brand
• Host a quarterly webinar that spotlights your expertise
• Send a monthly or quarterly newsletter with your content and/or industry updates
• Conduct customer exit interviews to identify fixable issues

Pro tip: You don’t need to do everything. Pick one or two ways to start building your retention plan, track how they perform, and add on from there. If something doesn’t resonate with your audience, let it go and test something else. You’ll find your rhythm—and your customers will thank you for it.

Got questions? We’re all ears (and low-key experts at this stuff #humblebrag). Let’s talk.