Let’s face it. Unless you are making your client more money, generating them more leads, they will eventually leave you — and client retention becomes a real problem for your agency.
Want to retain your clients and enjoy a long-lasting relationship? You could sign up for a $6,000 conference on how to “make it,” or…
…Make your clients more money…over and over and over again.
It’s nice to talk about how you treat every client like family, or how much you believe in transparency, and how your company’s mission is to help your clients’ business grow.
If your PPC campaigns aren’t making your client more money (i.e.; revenue growth), then you’re most likely being too caught up in the minutia, and not seeing the forest for the trees.
It’s a simple question. “Are you making more money?” After all, that’s a good reason for being in business, right?
If you’re not delivering results (making more money), even the closest family member will disown you.
In an effort to not sound like a broken record, let me be clear. Nothing matter unless you are making your clients more money.
4 Pillars of Client Retention
At Fullmoon Digital, we found these four pillars are necessary to stay on track and maintain a healthy long-term client partnership.
- Through results
- With deeper communication
- Responsiveness to changes (speed)
- Proactive audits and feedback
Each of these can be clearly defined into specific goals that help client success managers remain focus and on task. Why recommend new ideas or worry about driving more traffic if the client is not making more money?
Client Retention Pillar 1: Deliver Results
Reaching a broader audience and putting your client’s product or services in front of new prospects is the cornerstone of increasing sales.
Many PPC agencies rely too much on branded terms, and have no clear strategy to build a broader target audience.
Attracting the right kind of visitors is pivotal in order to get the increase in conversion and sales (making your client more money) you are looking for.
As you being to formulate your approach to increasing relevant traffic that converts and make your client more money, start planning for long term growth.
This means that you need to learn how to use Display, Social, Native, TV, Video, and other PPC channels to your advantage.
It is entirely in you power to make sure your client’s business be in great shape, which means your client relationships are more likely to be healthy and long-lasting.
Client Retention Pillar 2: Deeper Communication
Just because you’re happy with your work doesn’t mean your clients share the same sentiment.
Sharing weekend stories and making jokes means nothing. That doesn’t mean you have a good relationship.
If you’ve been on client calls at all, you know most of the time banter is to kill time until the real meeting begins.
UberConference’s jingle might be the solution to all your “forced” or awkward pre-meeting chat…have a listen, it’s quite entertaining if I say so myself…
Happiness Is a Two-Sided Affair
Look, I’m not a life coach or happiness coach.
But I do know that people appreciate when you take the time to listen and care about their needs.
Your client is just another human being on the other side of the conference call. They have feelings and needs just as much as you do. And they need your help to deliver results to their bosses.
Find out what they need from you so you can give them peace of mind. Sincerely care about your clients feelings.
“OK, Derek. I’m not in the business of counseling or therapy.”
I beg to differ, my friends. When clients decide to hire your agency, it’s not just about the results (yes, you still need to make them more money) — in the long term. It’s about the entire package.
We’re all humans longing for connection
Like I said before, your client is also another human being on the other side. That means they will have ups and downs, good days and bad days, and sometimes, they have a disastrous week — and they’re just looking for an unbiased party (you) to express their feelings to.
The truth is, your clients NEED you to deliver results so that they can FEEL secure in making the right choice to work with you.
At Fullmoon Digital, we are striving to be more deliberate during client calls — focusing more on the results, and less small talk.
Truth be told, our clients deserve more from us during those calls than bad jokes and stories about my dog’s pet visit.
Client Retention Pillar 3: Responsiveness to Changes (Speed Matters)
This is a tricky one.
It is nearly impossible to respond immediately every single time your client emails, drop everything to answer a call, address issues right away.
You don’t have to respond immediately, but if you care about the relationship then you will respond quickly.
When issues are raised and communicated quickly, you have the ability to pivot, optimize, and go-to-market with improved campaigns, targeting, and start making more money for your clients.
At Fullmoon Digital, we pride ourselves in our ability to be nimble and have the flexibility to address changes with speed.
Sometimes, it’s the chance to fix a minor issues that makes the difference.
For example, one of our auto parts PPC clients sent us an email about a product image on one of our dynamic product ads (DPA) on Facebook.
It was 8pm!
I could sense stress in how the email was written. From a campaign perspective, it could wait till the next morning.
But from a human responsiveness perspective, I was at my computer when I received the email.
At Fullmoon Digital, we believe that speed wins. Whether you are adjusting a PPC campaign, launching new products, making keyword bid adjustments, geographic targeting changes, or some other PPC tactics…
…your ability to act quickly will make a difference in your long-term client relationships.
Client Retention Pillar 4: Proactive Audits and Feedback
How often do you review performance with your clients? Even if you are delivering amazing results, the lack of regular scheduled audits with your client can send the wrong signals.
“What do you mean Derek? Didn’t you say all that matters is making the clients more money?“
Yes, making more money is still important. In fact, every good thing you do should lead to making clients more money.
But the absence of a regular reporting schedule on the progress of your campaigns, not sharing findings, and delayed communication causes your clients to perceive your services as disorganized and scattered.
When I was running solo at Fullmoon Digital, things were not as organized as it is now. As we get more structured and injected consistency in everything we do, we see our clients happier and trusting us more.
As a growing boutique ad agency, we constantly think of ways to improve.
Wrapping It Up On Client Retention
It is an undertaking in itself to find ways to keep clients engaged, happy, and long-term.
The four pillars above can help guide you, as it has guided Fullmoon Digital, to keep the excitement and fire burning with your client.
When you start to have a better understanding of your clients’ needs and goals, you also increase your retention rate.
I used to be nervous every month, not knowing if a client is going to stay or go — in spite of results.
Once we started to be better at focusing on the pillars above and paying closer attention to results, communication, and speed, the stress started going away.
With speed and flexibility to meet client goals allows you to give your clients the white glove service…
…making them ideal clients with high lifetime values and partnerships.
