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Expanding your customer base is important for the
growth of a company. Generally, new customers bring
additional revenue and loyal customers buy more and spend
more. Companies selling consumer and information products
are heavily influenced by the size of the customer base.
Customer base growth paths
To increase the customer base, a company
needs to keep its current customers (customer retention) and
to gain new ones (customer acquisition.)
Ideally, customer retention is achieved
through customer loyalty based on customer
satisfaction. Customer retention may be achieved
without customer loyalty when
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access to a product is restricted (i.e. licenses, agency approvals,
etc.),
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supply of product is restricted (i.e. patent protection, exclusive
distribution agreements, etc.),
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value
chain interfaces are controlled,
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product interfaces
are controlled.
Customer retentions reaps maximal benefits
when based on true customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Otherwise, customer retention may be falsely interpreted as loyalty
although customers will switch vendor immediately once control factors
change.
The potential to acquire new customers
depends on
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the size of the
market
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the company's and
competitors' brand images
-
the closeness of
fit between current and new target markets and product
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the marketing and
sales strategies in place
-
the implementation
skills of the marketing and sales strategies
Customer Base Action Plan
The Customer Base Action Plan from Steiner
Marketing addresses customer retention and customer
acquisition. The Customer Base Action Plan first assesses the
situation and determines critical factors with research,
then develops a strategy and improvement plan and finally
helps implementing it.
Get Your Questions Answered
If you have any questions about increasing
your customer base, give us a call or
send us an email.
We will be happy to answer your questions.
Other Marketing Strategies from Steiner Marketing
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