CUSTOMER RETENTION STATISTICS – The Ultimate Collection for Small Business

We’ve collected these customer retention statistics for small businesses from a variety of sources. Enjoy the list and see if any catch your attention that might be especially relevent to your company.

Last updated: October 16, 2016

CUSTOMER RETENTION STATISTICS

• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70 percent. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20 percent.
• 80 percent of your future profits will come from just 20 percent of your existing customers.
• 65 percent of a company’s business comes from existing customers.
• 32 percent of executives say retaining existing customers is a priority.
• A typical American business will lose 15 percent of its customers each year.
• 27 percent of small business owners estimate that 11-20 percent of first time customers don’t return to their business.

CUSTOMER RETENTION AND MARKETING

• 80 percent of businesses surveyed rely on email marketing for customer retention.
• 56 percent of survey respondents considered email marketing to be the most effective method of reaching customer retention goals.
• 36 percent of U.S. retail professionals said organic search drives customer retention.
• 43 percent of U.S. retail professionals said paid search drives customer retention.
• 44 percent of U.S. retail professionals said social media drives customer retention.
• 37 percent of U.S. retail professionals said retargeting drives customer retention.
• 21 percent of U.S. retail professionals said affiliates drive customer retention.
• 18 percent of U.S. retail professionals said referral marketing drives customer retention.
• 8 percent of U.S. retail professionals said mobile marketing drives customer retention.

CUSTOMER RETENTION AND THE COST OF SALES

• It costs 5 percent more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep a current one.
• It costs 16x more to bring a new customer up to the same level as a current one.
• 82 percent of companies agree that retention is cheaper to execute than acquisition.
• A mere two percent increase in customer retention can lower costs by as much as 10 percent.

CUSTOMER RETENTION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

• 82 percent of consumers in the United States said they stopped doing business with a company due to a poor customer experience.
• Companies lose 71 percent of consumers due to poor customer service.
• 68 percent of customers leave you because they perceive you are indifferent to them.
• 60 to 70 percent of customers will do business with a company again if it deals with a customer service issue fairly even if the result is not in their favor.
• 47 percent of customers would take their business to a competitor within a day of experiencing poor customer service.
• 66 percent of consumers who switched brands did so because of poor service.

CUSTOMER RETENTION AND YOUR BOTTOM LINE

• The average repeat customer spends 67 percent more in months 31-36 of their relationship with a business than they do in months 0-6.
• A five percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits of between 25 and 95 percent.
• Lowering your customer churn rate by five percent can increase your profitability by 25 to 125 percent.
• Repeat customers spend 33 percent more than new customers.
• A 10 percent increase in customer retention levels results in a 30 percent increase in the value of the company.

Bottom Line

As you can see above, the impact of customer retention can be felt from your bottom line to your marketing tactics (e.g. SEO), cost of sales, and customer service. Click the links below for more insight into customer retention:

• Are You Making Customer Retention a Top Priority?
• Learn Customer Retention from Taylor Swift?
• Read the No B.S. Guide to Maximum Referrals and Customer Retention
• This May Explain Your Customer Retention Problem
• Using Customer Service for Retention and Renewals

Retain Customers Photo via Shutterstock