Using Market Research to Improve Customer Retention

Client need:
Our client, a well-respected catalogue distributor of equipment for the workplace, had a particular issue with customer retention.  Whilst it was easy to attract new customers, persuading them to make repeat purchases was proving difficult.  In order to put in place a customer retention strategy, market research was commissioned to gain greater understand of customers’ purchasing habits and motivators.

Market research needs:
To determine the existing brand values that customers associate with the client company, and understand which aspects of the product and service offering that are valued by customers.
To determine what’s important to infrequent purchasers and why they buy from competitors.

Our approach to this wide-ranging research was typically pragmatic.  After a detailed audit of the client’s customer base dynamics, we designed a programme of face-to-face interviews with loyal customers and infrequent customers, to understand their purchase dynamics and habits.  This was followed by an attitudinal survey across a wider audience, aimed at quantifying purchasing attitudes.

Key outcomes:
Specific areas of weak customer service levels were identified, allowing our client to improve those services and deliver more value to their customers.
Synergies in the product ranges bought by customers were discovered, enabling our client to increase the profitability and value of their customer base.
Our client found out from customers who they were really competing with across different ranges of products.  They were then able to market themselves against those specific companies.
Our client was able to tailor a customer loyalty scheme to those customers who would view it as valuable.

After presenting the market research results to our client, they were able to put in place a detailed and structured strategy that would not only drive up customer satisfaction but, more importantly, would increase profitability of customers' orders.

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