How to Retain Customers in 2022

By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Lava Protocols

The pandemic changed our lives forever. In a short period, we saw the world-changing and adapting to diverse challenges. Along with the challenges and changes, the pandemic gave us opportunities. Thousands of schools overnight shifted to online classrooms and continued education. Thousands of businesses changed their gears to online platforms; some thrived, and some met their untimely demise. So, here we are in the second month of 2022 and still learning to live with a pandemic. The best advice I can give you to deal with the current complexities of the world is Don’t Change, Transform!

The biggest challenge that startups and small and medium-sized businesses faced was keeping up with their customers’ expectations. Customers changed too. Their expectations have changed, and they are unwilling to settle down for anything but the best. Did you know in the global State of Marketing report by Salesforce, it was found that over 70% of businesses said the same thing? They mentioned that meeting customer expectations was their biggest challenge in 2021. Also, another huge challenge was delivering real-time customer service. Customers demand a more decadent experience while shopping and want instant answers to their questions. Also, they want personalised services anytime, anywhere.

This shift means your business will need to think afresh about acquiring, winning, and retaining customers. We know it is easier said than done. That is why we are here. Here are some tools which can help your business to identify and retain customers in 2022 and beyond:

Pardot and Marketing Cloud:

Now, you can find customers with Pardot and Marketing Cloud. For most small and medium-sized businesses, the most significant challenges are customer management. Pardot, a tool by Salesforce, can help you create meaningful relationships with customers, attract high-quality leads, and achieve more conversions. Today, 2.8 million small and medium-sized businesses rely on Pardot to acquire customers. Companies have seen sales revenue increase by over 30%, and marketing effectiveness increases almost 40% on average.

Here are some ways that Pardot and Marketing Cloud can help you find more customers:

• You can automate a wide range of processes. This will improve efficiency and free up resources.
• You can effectively use the data you have already gathered as Pardot and Marketing Cloud work seamlessly with Salesforce 
• You will find sophisticated marketing analysis with Data Studio  
• You can build personalised and data-driven email campaigns for customers 
• You can reach customers on their preferred channels in a short time
• You can generate insightful ROI reporting with Pardot to understand which elements of your strategies are working. 

Sales Cloud:

Many businesses are adopting Sales Cloud, one of the modules that run on the Salesforce platform. Sales Cloud gives companies the tools they need to modernise how they sell and how customers buy.

Some of the mentionable powerful features of Sales Cloud are:

• You can track sales opportunities and move forward faster with rich customer activity timelines
• Activity tracking and email alerts are advanced automation you can use for daily sales tasks, which will save time
• You will also have a mobile app to access, manage, and update CRM data in real-time 
• You will have a 360-degree view of each customer as all of their data will be in one place 
• Your sales team will save an immense amount of time as they won’t have to look for data in spreadsheets, emails, or sticky notes. 
• You can also use AI-powered sales tools to automate day-to-day processes.

Like all Salesforce products, Sales Cloud comprises an intuitive interface that makes attracting and retaining a customer a hassle-free process.

Service Cloud:

Retaining customers after the first sale is the biggest challenge for small and medium-sized businesses. The pandemic has made most customers more selective and picky. You cannot be confident that one sale will lead to another. Did you know more than half of all small and medium-sized businesses worldwide have now invested in customer service software? This was found in the SMB Trend Reports. Well, the data speaks for itself. 

More than 90% of customers agree that a positive customer service experience is more likely to make them make another purchase. Also, customer service expectations have risen exponentially over the past two years. So, you will need to establish and maintain high levels of personalised customer service. 

Salesforce’s Service Cloud solution is the ideal choice for businesses and here is why: 

• Service Cloud allows you to engage with customers on their favourite channels. So, if they are comfortable and if you tend to their needs, they will highly likely come back for more
• Customers are not willing to waste time. Hence, you can serve them faster with automated workflows.
• Customers need answers, and they need them now. Service Cloud will allow you to deploy AI-powered chatbots for 24/7 responsiveness
• Service Cloud also makes it easy for customers to access knowledge articles quickly, get information about their accounts, and receive community support 24/7

Salesforce has the tools you need to survive in this post-pandemic world. Make Salesforce your trusted partner as they have the solutions you need to find, win, and retain new customers. Hey, are you still worried for your small or medium businesses? Don’t Worry SME’s! We got you. Read this blog for SMEs.

Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Partner. Need to boost your business? Drop us an email to: hello@lavaprotocols.com.