The impact of high sales churn in publishing is reflected in lost revenue, low customer satisfaction and the declining health of your organization.
Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to reduce churn, and we talk about them all in this article.
Continue reading to understand what factors affect sales churn, how sales churn impacts the media industry, and the top six things you can do to keep customers engaged and reduce your churn rates.
6 factors impacting sales churn
There are several factors that affect sales churn, from how you respond to consumer needs to the quality of your communication. By understanding these factors, your organization can take steps to reduce sales churn and keep customers engaged and loyal over time.
Customer experience
Customers are more likely to leave if they are unhappy with the product or service they receive, or if they receive poor customer service
Excellent customer service that anticipates needs, resolves problems quickly, and is easily accessible is vital to enhancing the customer experience.
Competition
Competition from other companies offering similar products or services can also affect sales churn. Customers may leave if they find a better deal or a better fit with another company.
This is why publishers need to embrace new technologies. Providing better data analytics and dynamic product configuration options, they allow you to keep up with customer demands and stay one step ahead of the competition.
Consumer needs
Customers may leave if they no longer have a need for the product or service, or if they find a better solution that meets their needs. You should always be highlighting what it is about your product or service that your customers just can’t live without.
It’s similarly crucial to use advanced analytics that monitor your customers’ behavior and feed back valuable data. This will ensure your business decisions are always informed by consumer needs.
Pricing
Customers may leave if they find a more affordable option, or if they feel that the price of the product or service is too high. Having a dynamic product catalog, such as the one built into Amplio, allows media companies to offer the best offer possible to each individual customer.
This not only encourages conversions, it also helps to re-engage churn risks by flexing to their changing needs and offering them an alternative solution.
Customer engagement
Customers are more likely to leave if they feel that their needs are not being met or if they feel that their loyalty is not being rewarded.
Creating nurture journeys that keep customers in a constant state of engagement and upsell is a more personal experience than pushing them through the traditional sales funnel. As a media company, you should always be looking for the next way to nurture and monetize your audience, at every individual stage.
Communication
Customers may leave if they feel that their questions or concerns are not being addressed, or if they feel that they are not being kept informed about important updates or changes.
Automating important emails, sending out frequent updates, and empowering your sales team so that they can respond to queries quickly and effectively is key to improving communication with customers.
The crushing impact of high sales churn in media
The digital media industry has an average customer churn rate of 6.42%, but for individual companies, this number can be a lot higher. Churn can significantly impact your media company’s revenue and growth as well as customer satisfaction, your ability to remain competitive and the overall health of your organization.
A high sales churn rate means that your media company is losing customers, which directly impacts revenue. This can result in decreased profitability and reduced growth potential. This is particularly damaging for traditional media businesses, where the median revenue churn is around 35%.
As you know, the media industry relies heavily on customer satisfaction as customers are the main source of revenue. A high sales churn rate can indicate that customers are not happy with your offerings, which can negatively impact reputation and brand image.
As a highly competitive industry, a high sales churn rate can also give competitors an advantage. If you have a low sales churn rate, on the other hand, you’re simply more likely to retain your customers, which gives you a competitive advantage over companies with a high sales churn rate.
A high sales churn rate also means that you have to spend more on customer acquisition as you’re continually losing customers. This can increase the cost of customer acquisition and reduce profitability. In fact, acquiring new customers is five times more expensive than retaining an existing customer, while increasing customer retention by just 5% increases profits by 25-95%.
6 ways to combat the impact of sales churn
1. Regularly analyze customer data
Regularly analyzing customer data will help you to identify trends and patterns in customer behavior. This will help you understand why customers are leaving so that you can take steps to prevent it.
Publishers can do this more effectively with AI technology, which analyzes data on reading patterns, popular topics, and social media engagement to inform publishing decisions and content strategy.
2. Build strong relationships with your customers
By regularly reaching out to your customers, addressing their concerns, and providing excellent customer service, you will strengthen your relationship with them and build rapport.
3. Regularly monitor customer satisfaction
You can monitor customer satisfaction by conducting surveys, listening to feedback, and tracking customer interactions. This will help you identify any potential issues and address them before they lead to churn.
Doing this will also make your customers feel more valued and like they’re part of your business journey, creating a sense of community.
4. Personalization
Personalize your approach to each customer based on their specific needs, interests, and preferences. This will help you build trust and loyalty and prevent them from leaving.
One way you can do this is by using technology like Adpoint Assistant, which allows your sales team to connect their emails to the CRM so that messages are always relevant, tailored to each individual customer, and sensitive to the bigger picture.
5. Incentivize
Offer incentives such as discounts, promotions, or other rewards to customers who renew their contract or make a new purchase. This will help you keep them engaged and prevent them from leaving.
This also solves the challenge we discussed earlier about how customers are more likely to churn if they feel their loyalty is not being rewarded. Incentivizing is a great way to show your appreciation to your customers and demonstrate the value you bring to them.
6. Stay ahead of the competition
By continuously improving your product or service, staying up-to-date with industry trends, and offering unique value to your customers, you will edge-out the competition.
Embracing modern technology with robust data analytics and AI capabilities will also allow you to innovate and keep pace with the ever-changing media landscape, which will be crucial if you want to future-proof your business and continue to meet consumer demand.
To start optimizing your sales team’s workflows with Adpoint, book a call with Lineup today. To find out more about Adpoint Assistant for Gmail, click here.
