New customer acquisition is good and important. Additional existing customer care is better. With a CRM system, such as HubSpot’s, you can stay in touch with your customers, increase your sales opportunities, and reduce your costs.
With existing customers, it’s like with a marriage or partnership. If it is to last a long time, it must be cared for. This means talking to each other, listening, asking questions, surprising with small attentions, not taking anything for granted, actively setting new impulses – even years later. And understand the word “stock” not as “ownership” but as “retention” in the sense of “not wanting to lose”.
Existing customers bring a lot of advantages that we often no longer have in mind because we are focused on acquiring new customers. That’s okay, because new customers provide the necessarygrowth. At the same time, we have to take care of our customers, because existing customers provide a stable basis. Without a base, there is no growth; without existing customers, there are no new customers.
Existing customers facilitate your planning, relieve your marketing and ensure a cost reduction in B2B sales.
What do existing customers bring?
- Existing customers buy from you more regularly because they already know and trust you.
- Existing customers like to come back because your performance was good last time, too. The promised added value was delivered.
- Existing customers choose you because they feel they receive personal attention and do not always have to start from the beginning to describe their concerns. You already know the needs, wishes and interests of existing customers.
- This awareness is also worth paying a slightly higher price to your existing customers. Price sensitivity is less of an issue for existing customers.
- Existing customers appreciate you because you think outside the box and offer even more benefits and services through up-selling and cross-selling.
For all these reasons, existing customers do something special for you: existing customers recommend you and your company to others. Without any expensive advertising.
Recommendations from existing customers strengthen your image and bring you new customers.
The advantages of existing customer care in figures
- The rule of thumb in practice is that maintaining existing customers is on average 5 times more cost-effective than acquiring new customers.
- A 5% increase in customer retention yields a 25% to 95% increase in revenue. (Source: Bain & Company, Harvard Business School)
- With 1 existing customer , the average turnover of 5 to 7 new customers can be achieved. (Source: Adobe Digital Index Report)
- Although existing customers in the German retail sector only account for just under a third of the total number of buyers, they generate two-thirds of total sales. (Source: GfK Consumer Scan)
- Around 8% of return visitors to a website account for more than 40% of revenue . (Source: Adobe Digital Index Report)
- Existing customers are up to 7x more willing to try something new. This makes them ideal candidates for additional business through up-selling and cross-selling. (Source: Temkin Group Research)
Customer management with HubSpot
Maintaining existing customers is not something you have to do yourself in every detail. For example, let HubSpot’s CRM system handle automatable steps in customer support and customer communication for you.
The system is designed so that you always have an overview of what you have discussed with your customers and when, and when you last called them or sent them information. With HubSpot, emails can be automated and customers can be invited directly to appointments.
As an inbound platform for marketing, sales and service, HubSpot accompanies you throughout your customers' entire customer journey.
Digital communication via HubSpot is particularly efficient and effective when it comes to maintaining existing customers. In contrast to the approach to new customers, it is easier here to take data protection regulations into account.
This allows you to target qualified leads directly with personalized content and link contacts totasks for automated marketing. These tasks are freely definable. They are, for example: “Call for birthday”, “Offer assistance with update” or “Send out e-mail with customer survey”.
The top priority in customer communication is lead nurturing, i.e. providing the lead with relevant content. After all, the care of existing customers also benefits if they are offered regular added value . These can be white papers, webinars, or exclusive content aimed exclusively at existing customers, for example.
With exclusive content for your existing customers, you show appreciation and increase the chance of being recommended to others.
If you would like support in implementing HubSpot for existing customer care, we would be happy to advise you and help you reach your potential customers* in the best possible way.
Until the next update – your Growth Ninjas,
Adrienne, David, Hermann, Johannes, Katharina B., Stefan K. & Stefan G.
