It is becoming a lot more important that companies focus on retaining their customers than running after new acquisition in these tough economic times.

Every customer that you have falls into certain high level segments:

• A newly acquired group
• A welcome group
• A engaged group
• A reconnect group and
• A reward group

Spend your marketing budget wisely on each or some of these groups so as to enhance your customer experience and build loyalty.

You have available some simple retention strategies that can get you started:

• If you have a customer service arm get them to start reaching out to your top customers and find out how their businesses are doing and if there is anything you can do to help
• Give your most loyal customers pricing specials that bring them back and reward their loyalty in tough times
• Thank your engaged customers with simple yet effective Thank You notes (via email, web or offline post cards)
• Use a surprise and delight strategy that puts value in the hands of your most engaged and loyal customers
• Invite a select few customers to an online discussion panel to identify customer service enhancement opportunities
• Acknowledge the tough economic times and be a thought leader in providing business knowledge and solutions
• Start a simple eNewsletter to keep customers engaged with your Brand
• Stress how important your Brand promise is and ensure all levels of the organization are providing excellent customer service

Remember that your customer is king/queen and even the simplest gestures go a long way in keeping and generating new business/sales.