Last month’s Customer Boot Camp article asked the question ‘What makes customers leave?’.
You could ask that question a different way. What makes customers stay?
If you read that article your kneejerk answer might be “making sure your customers know you care about them”. That’s an admirable sentiment, but how do you put it into practice?
There are lots of ways to show you care, and some work better than others when it comes to increasing customer stickiness. Having your account manager remember their opposite number’s birthday might be a nice place to start, but it’s no place to finish.
ISV Solutions create Sticky Customers
Regina Crowshaw, Director of ISV Strategy for Sage North America, gave an answer at the recent Sage Partner Summit that was both enlightening and actionable:
There is a direct correlation between the number of ISV solutions that Sage customers make use of and their retention rate.
Let's call it the ISV Stickiness Index:
- Starting with zero, the average 5-year retention rate is 50%
- Add 2 ISV products and there is an eye-opening increase to 75%
- Make that 4 ISV products and you reach a mouth-watering 90%
Why might that be?
What better way to show you care than not only being attentive to your customers’ needs, but meeting them?
Carefully chosen ISV solutions can turn an off-the-shelf Business Management System into a tailor-made one they’ll be very reluctant to part with.
Where to start?
Scoping and implementing an ISV solution could lead to a major project, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
It might be as simple as browsing Orchid’s new Extender Marketplace, and finding a simple and inexpensive Extender App that makes a measurable difference to your customer's productivity and satisfaction.
It won’t break the customer’s budget, and might not make yours, but...
...think of every little App as being another piece of chewing gum on the footpath to customer stickiness.
