How to retain customers with free software

A little over 2 months ago we started with a series that seeks to teach How to grow our business with free softwareEverything is based on my personal experience and it may or may not apply depending on your case. We have maintained as a premise that in order to grow our business, one of the main objectives that we must meet is retain customers, and added to this we must: create a brand, increase profits and reduce expenses or losses.

Customer loyaltyIt is nothing more than to create a favorable and recurring link between the company and the consumer, that is, the link that is created when a consumer purchases a product and becomes a regular customer, who identifies with the brand and the recommends.

Do not confuse the terms of customer loyalty with the one customer satisfactionSince the latter refers to the fact that your product meets what the customer requires, but that the customer does not care to replace it with the competition. Customer loyalty goes further, it is the result of adding satisfaction with the commitment relationship between the consumer and the company.

Process to retain customers

The process of customer loyalty It is quite long, following a journey that goes: from having an excellent corporate identity, through sales and monitoring tools, to having functionalities to manage our business projects.

Automation in the sales, monitoring, marketing and added value processes of the product is undoubtedly one of the the most correct ways to retain our customers.

We must be clear that the customer loyalty process, must be oriented not only to retain customers, but to attract potential customers and above all to offer a sense of trust between the company and the consumer.

The result of customer loyalty It is transformed in the first instance, in recurring income, but also in guarantees of good service, reputation in the face of the competition and an increase in new clients as a result of the recommendation of loyal consumers.

Customer loyalty strategies

Customer loyalty strategies are very common today, hundreds of gurus create mechanisms or strategies that allow one way or another to create favorable links between consumers and companies. The main problem with these is that they are sold as infallible techniques for any type of business, without taking into account that each business model, circumstance and target audience is different.

Customer loyalty strategies should be viewed as references, but never as infallible mechanisms.

The ideal is to investigate our target audience, analyze our qualities and characteristics, verify the actions and strategies of the competition, learn from the successful strategies applied in the same or similar business models. With the result of each of these points, create our own loyalty strategy, which allows us to turn our business objectives into the direction.

It is of utmost importance when creating our loyalty strategy, that we focus on building relationships that last over time and let's not make the mistake of looking only in the sense of selling.

Ideas that we can use in our customer loyalty strategy.

• Create mechanisms for personalized attention.
• Reward your customers (Discounts, purchases, special prizes, souvenirs, ...).
• Know and learn from your customers as much as you can, I then used all the information collected to provide you with what you need. Don't forget that they are people, so a motivational message on your birthday can make all the difference.
• Maintain a high omnichannel relationship.
• Integrate your business in every way and see the online and offline market as one.
• Maintain contact with your customers, either through social networks, personalized emails, telephone, etc.
• Let the customer give their impressions and suggestions.
• Add value to your product and service (extended support, personalized labels, tracking, exclusivity ...)
• Segment your customers and create experiences by consumer group.
• Make your business model simple.
• Provide excellent after-sales service.
• Products and services should be king, therefore offer quality products and perform services superior to the competition.
• Use tools for automation, measurement and that improve users' shopping sensations.

Tools to retain customers

There are a lot of tools to retain customers They are free and open source, we probably don't know all of them and it may also happen that the ones we do know are not the best, so please take this list for reference only.

We have classified it according to the type of tools, they are applicable in various customer loyalty strategies and work on Linux (May not be available for some distros)

CRM

Recently AnaGaby_Clau gave us a good summary of top 6 open source CRM tools, to these we must add InvoiceScript, Odoo, Idempier and some other tools that present CRM modules which has most of the functionalities of specialized CRM applications.

POS / POS

I recently wrote an article to help choose software adechen for your Point of Sale Terminal (POS / POS), They are small instructions and tips that we should take into account so that our choice is the most appropriate.

In the same way, long ago let's use linux he told us about The best free software for your Point of Sale Terminal (POS / POS)In it, it gave us a large number of free application alternatives to be installed in our POS.

ERP

The Enterprise Resource Planners (ERP Enterprise Resource Planning), can play an important role in customer loyalty, since if these have sales, marketing, crm modules among others, it can be integrated into your loyalty strategy.

Likewise, users feel committed to those companies where the same information is handled regardless of the moment or the user who attends it, in addition, ERPs allow to be more efficient when managing inventories, logistics, purchases and sales.

I can mention in the ERP category, the following free tools: Odoo, Idempiere, Adempiere, Liberty ERP, webERP, ERPNext, MixERP among others.

E-commerce

The tools of trade electronic or E-commerce, are a fundamental contribution when it comes to building customer loyalty in some business models, for no one is a secret that at this time SMEs must bet on the internet as the right platform to compete with large companies.

Large and small companies must make the user experience when buying online, be the same or better than when they do it in the physical store.

In the same way, it is currently a business crime for 2.0 users to go to the competition because they lack technological tools that allow them to make purchases or receive adequate support online.

Some of the main tools open source for E-commerce are: Magento, PrestaShop, osCommerce, OpenCart, Spree Commerce among others.

Email Marketing

And to conclude, we must close with the traditional technique for customer loyalty, the email marketing,  which is the process that brands use to contact their target audience through email. The email marketing technique encompasses newsletters and mailing, which must be carried out following a slightly intrusive strategy and with very specific objectives.

There are several Open Source Email Marketing tools, highlighting the following: mautic, OpenEMM, phpList, pim core and many more.

Conclusions on customer loyalty with free software

The process of customer loyalty is extensive, important and above all essential, it is also an area where you can invest money or time, it is justified by the income from recurring customers and customers who come by recommendation.

In addition, nothing better than a happy customer, since it gives a sentimental value to your product or service, by this I mean, that above the economic benefits, it must aim to create products and services that meet customer requirements, providing all the necessary environment for the user experience is the best.

We must be satisfied in the free software community, as there are many tools available for this important business process. I invite you to delve into each of them.

I hope that this article has been to your liking and that it allows you to be able to retain the customers of your businesses in an appropriate way. If you have a question or comment, do not hesitate to write us