Newsstand

September 23, 2011
Boning Up on Customer Retention and Loyalty at DMA2011 [DMA11]

We live in a challenging economy where even a single lost customer can represent a massive swing from profit to loss. At the upcoming DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition taking place in Boston, attendees will hear all about the importance of customer retention and loyalty in the current economic environment. But that’s not where it’ll end.

DMA Conferences are famous for offering attendees not only the opportunity to rub elbows with the movers and shakers of the marketing industry, but also to sit in on lectures, workshops, and roundtable discussions that help teach the basic principles of marketing in a way that’s impossible to learn by reading books, blogs or attending webinars.

Some of the issues surrounding customer retention and loyalty that will be discussed at this year’s DMA2011 include:

• Why retention is more important than finding new customers. As you probably already know, the cost of seeking out new customers can cost as much as five times more than it costs to keep an existing customer.

• How to retain existing customers. The methods implemented by companies seeking to keep their customer base happy and returning time and time again range from seeking out new ways to offer superior value, to the skillful resolution of customer service issues.

• The importance of measurement and analytics when it comes to determining the level of customer service that you’re offering customers. It’s not enough to rely on complaints to figure out what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Accurate measurements are often required to gauge your successes and your failures.

• Understanding the difference between a one-time customer and a life-long customer. What makes someone come back time and time again, versus the perfectly satisfied customer who only came once, then never returned? Solving this mystery is at the heart of customer retention efforts.

• Building loyalty through superior customer service. Not everyone who runs a business truly understands what it takes to deliver superior customer service – some of the behaviors necessary have to be learned.

• Engaging your customers on a personal level. These days, social media outlets are a great tool for loyalty building in a way that face to face communication was the means by which businesses of “old” kept their customers coming back. Engagement through social media is the new “face time.”

These are just a few of the topics that will be covered at DMA2011 this October 1 through 6 in Boston – but they by no means represent all that will be going on that week. Past DMA Conferences have brought thousands of visitors and this year’s event is predicted to bring in over 10,000 attendees, all taking part in an incredible diversity of discussions from social media marketing to database management. For more information on how you can attend the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition, visit www.dma11.org and reserve your spot today.

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