How Electrical Contractors Can Improve Customer Retention
It is expensive to convert new customers and often much less expensive to simply retain the ones you have. As an electrician, your customers may need repeated services in a much shorter time frame than other contractors, such as roofers and plumbers. So, retaining customers can be a smart way to make more sales and bolster the overall security of your business. The challenge is that customer loyalty has dropped significantly in the digital age. Many customers who have used an electrician before will still simply choose the first one they find on a search engine. So how do you break that cycle and keep the customers that you’ve already spent time and money winning over? You need a customer retention plan. Here is how to improve your customer retention as an electrician.
1. Satisfaction Surveys
Where could your company improve in making an impact on your customers and cementing their loyalty to your brand? One of the best ways to find out is to ask customers to complete satisfaction surveys. You can survey customers about every facet of their experience with you, their opinion of your brand, and how likely they are to call you again. This can give you valuable insight into how you can improve retention.
2. Contact through Marketing Channels
Some marketing channels, especially social media and email marketing, keep you in closer contact with your customers and keep you at the top of mind for when they need an electrician again. However, you need to be sure to keep your customers engaged for the long run, which means using these channels to sell will backfire. Focus on entertaining and education to keep long-term interest.
3. Loyalty Programs
While loyalty programs are a little more challenging to pull off as a contractor as opposed to a retail store, they can still be valuable. Offering to waive fees for inspections for members or offering small discounts can help make the loyalty membership worthwhile and help a customer end up choosing you when they need services.
4. Range of Services
If you specialize in only one or two main services, it can be hard to keep customers. Afterall, how often do homeowners need an electrical panel upgrade or any other individual service? Instead, if you focus on offering a wider range of services, you can help a customer several times in the span of a few years.
5. Responsive Customer Service
When your customer calls you, do they get your voicemail? When they talk to you, do they feel like their concerns are heard? A customer’s experience on the phone can make or break their loyalty to your brand. Customers will remember you down the road if they had an unusually positive experience with your staff.
You don’t need to invest the time in learning how to provide this exceptional service yourself, especially not if you’re often too busy working to answer a customer’s calls. Investing in a high-quality call answering service can be a better idea instead. You can be sure a customer receives the attention they need without neglecting the work in front of you.
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