Why You Can't Afford to Pass on a Retention Audit
Jul 04, 2016
A retention audit is an evaluation of your processes for retaining customers (businesses) or students (colleges). You need to evaluate the processes if you ever hope to improve your retention rate – because a higher retention rate means higher customer/student lifetime value which means greater success for your business/college.
What is a Retention Audit?
Our Retention Audit is based on our 20 years of experience working with small, medium and large organizations in a variety of industries. We focus on 6 elements – all of which impact your ability to retain a customer (business) or student (education). Those elements are:
- Organization – because success requires institutional involvement.
- Recruitment – because you can offer solutions with the right information
- New Student – because getting them started on the right foot is key
- Current Student – because you need to be prepared for changes in their lives
- Stop Out – because there is a difference between ‘stopping’ and ‘dropping’
- Drop Out – because they offer insights for improvement
In each area, we have identified what highly effective organizations do – and what less effective organizations do (and don’t do). From there, we created a series of statements that address your policies, processes and approach across the organization – because retention starts long before you have a customer or a student. Retention starts when you identify your target audience and begin to develop and offer the unique, valuable solutions they want and need.
What Benefits Can You Expect from our Retention Audit?
Improved Recruitment Efforts.
Retention starts with recruitment and when you recruit new customers/students that are most like those customers/students that have enjoyed a long, happy, healthy, profitable relationship with your business/college, you will see conversion rates jump as well as retention. Why? Because your organization offers these people something they value – and you will see the benefits of attracting larger numbers of those most like your best customers/students.
Improved Referral Rates.
Happy customers/students generate higher numbers of referrals. This lowers your cost to attract new customers/students. And because those people that are referred are like your best customers/students, they are more likely to be retained!
Lower Cost to Attract New Customers/Students.
As I mentioned above, when you target those most like your best customers/students, you will see a lower cost to acquire a new customer/student. First, there’s the impact of referrals that lowers the cost. But secondly, you are set up to appeal to these people already so they are more likely to realize your business/college is the best solution for their needs.
Higher profitable revenue, lower expenses.
In business, this typically translates to higher order size and more frequent purchases than the rest of your customer base. And that translates into a higher life time value.
For colleges, this translates into higher graduation rates and, if you play your cards right, higher referrals rates and an increased number of graduates coming back for additional education. For example, undergraduates turn to you for graduate programs, alum from graduate programs come back for certification/badges/certificates/etc.
What’s your next step? Contact us for your Retention Audit.
Still have questions? Or are you ready to talk specifics about your needs and expectations? Give us a contact at 651-666-0934 or .
Dudley Stevenson, founder and CEO of DWS Associates, has over thirty-five years’ experience in consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, and direct marketing, including developing, planning, and implementing go-to-market strategies. He's also the author of "Marketing Direct: Breaking Through The Clutter." Working with organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, he and his team have helped clients such as IBM, Sony, Neiman Marcus, Arizona Highways, Marshall Field & Co., Mrs. Field’s, UNICEF, and Patagonia implement successful direct marketing programs. A longtime member of the Direct Marketing Association and the American Marketing Association, Stevenson is also a sought-after speaker. He’s given hundreds of presentations and workshops on marketing and direct marketing. His “Marketing Planning 101” workshop alone has reached more than 100,000 marketing and sales professionals.
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