If Focusing on Getting New Customers, Don’t Forget About Existing Ones

New clients vs old clients. Customer retention concept.

Some may think that growing your business starts with getting your first customer and continuing to get new one after new one. While customer “acquisition” is important, customer retention is the future of business growth.

It all comes back to the 80/20 rule — 80% of your business has the potential to come from 20% of your customers. So doesn’t it make sense to make sure your existing customers — especially the 20% that fit your ideal target audience and refer you — get most of your attention?

In an increasingly competitive marketplace where someone can pretty easily go online, pick up the phone or ask “Alexa” to contact someone when you’re not available, businesses need to focus on retaining customers by helping them be so successful, that they refer their friends, family, colleagues and become your best brand ambassadors. Imagine that…a free sales force right at your disposal!

Here are 5 customer retention tools to treat your best customers to a little TLC:

  1. Customer Loyalty Programs: think point system or VIP reward program
  2. Gamification: think friendly competition and badges to show progress
  3. Personalization: think emails that start with, “Dear Bob” instead of “Dear Robert” when no one ever calls him Robert (unless he’s in trouble) 🙂
  4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): think your memory on steroids – no one can retain every conversation with every person…forever and ever. But CRM can, and imagine what you can retain from customers, when you retain all of your interactions with them!
  5. Customer Support: it’s what you think, just better and more technologically advanced – it’s “live chat” or “chat bots” to give customers a real-time connection to help for what they need, when they need it.

For more information or for some good ole customer service, contact us at [email protected].


Incite Creative is a marketing strategy and creative implementation firm that works in an outsourced capacity. In short, we become your company’s chief marketing officer (CMO) and do so virtually and efficiently — saving you time and money. Since 1999 we’ve had the pleasure of building and boosting brands for a core set of industries. Our thoughtful process, experienced team, and vested interest in our client’s success has positioned us as one of the Mid-Atlantic’s most sought-after marketing partners for those looking to grow their brand awareness and their bottom line. Stop paying for digital and/or traditional services you may not really need. Our retainer, no mark-up model means our recommendations don’t come with any catch or commission. The recommendations we make align with what you need and what fits within your budget. For more information, contact Dina Wasmer at 410-366-9479 or [email protected].