Customer retention

Jon · #1 (**permalink**) 31-03-2006, 08:24 PM

I'm worried that if I do invest in a server, come up with some good offers (like the first month for free) people might sign up to the service and not carry on with a monthly subscription.

How do you increase your customer retention (ability to "hold" on to customers)?

TWD_Tony · #2 (**permalink**) 31-03-2006, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

I'm worried that if I do invest in a server, come up with some good offers (like the first month for free) people might sign up to the service and not carry on with a monthly subscription.

How do you increase your customer retention (ability to "hold" on to customers)?

The "first month FREE" offer is always a gamble, as you say... People can have free hosting for a month and then move on (it may also attract spammers and other low lives). You could make the free month the second or third month? You can have them pay for 10 months upfront and revieve 12 months hosting? (not many will do this with a new company though).

The single biggest retainer of clients is service - If you are there for them when they need you, and your uptime is good (98% +) then they are likely to stay...
Hosting is a strange business, most new host's think like a traditonal "retailer" - that they need to have the best offers & prices... This simply isn't true - a good example of this is the dedicated server company Rackspace, they are probably the biggest UK dedicated server provider and yet they offer a lot less in terms of features and resources than most providers and at HUGE costs - but they are the biggest because they have a reputation for the best service and network in the business... So people buy from them

monaghan · #3 (**permalink**) 31-03-2006, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon

How do you increase your customer retention (ability to "hold" on to customers)?

Offer realistic pricing for the service you offer, set customer expectation and deliver it 100%

You don't have to offer unlimited this or that, 100% uptime etc... Just ensure that you can deliver what you sell, do it well and be honest with your customers.

b34ch3r · #4 (**permalink**) 31-03-2006, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monaghan

Offer realistic pricing for the service you offer, set customer expectation and deliver it 100%

You don't have to offer unlimited this or that, 100% uptime etc... Just ensure that you can deliver what you sell, do it well and be honest with your customers.

I'm not about to do that - some of the offers around the web like that just make me laugh - and surely drive off potential customers.

As for the support, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to cope with tens of support requests a day - do you contract the support side of the business out to a different firm?

monaghan · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2006, 08:31 AM

If your servers are up and reliable, then why would you get tens of support requests ?

You can also invest in a good FAQ section and tutorials if you get a lot of how do I requests.

I get more SPAM than actual requests through my helpdesk

I generally get 1 or 2 support requests per customer as they setup, then no contact until billing time