How Service Providers Ensure Consumer Retention - Essay Example

This is because it is only through customer retention that these service providers can gain a competitive advantage over other firms in the same industry. Nevertheless, the question is, how does these service providers ensure this? The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies employed by service providers to ensure customer retention. One key element of customer retention is ensuring that customers are provided with quality goods and services (Buttle 12). It is noted that many service providers tend to strive towards the provision of quality good and services as a way of keeping their customers loyal to the company.

This is because no single customer would be willing to come back to get the products or services of a company that they had previous been dissatisfied. Buttle notes that many customers would only be willing to remain loyal to those companies that provide quality products and services to their customers (14). This is one of the reasons as to why companies such as Walmart, Target and Kroger among others have large customer retention base. These retail shops attribute its customer loyalty to the fact that it provides better quality products and services, which has kept their customers coming again and again.

Research shows that customer retention is not only based on provision of better quality products and services, but also on creating awareness on the existence of the products and services (Hennig-Thurau and Hansen 102). Many service providers are aware of this fact, and as a result engage on extensive advertising campaign to inform their customers of the existence of their products and services, as is the case with Walmart one of the largest grocery retail shop in the US. Walmart, for instance, does this through mailing list, local advertising, video marketing, email list and facebook among others.

Customer retention is also very much dependent on customer service (Lamb 44). As a result, to ensure that customers remain loyal to the company, service providers always ensure that customers are provided with optimal customer service. This involves extending a helping hand to the customers all the time irrespective of the place and time. Technological advancement have made this easier to service provider as they can now do this through social media networks to keep in close contact with their customers as is the case with Target retail.

This ensures that customer’s queries and problems are handled in time making them feel valued, thus building loyalty. In addition, many service providers ensure that those employed at the customer care desks are professional with etiquette, hospitable and able to handle their customers well. This is because these are the people who mainly come into close contact with customers first. They, therefore, their first impression with the customers can impact greatly on whether the customer will remain loyal or not.

Take for example a situation where a customer makes an important call to the company and it is not picked by the customer care employee in time. Such behaviors makes customer feel less valued by the company and as such will seek the services of competitors who can handle them well. Making a customer feel special and valued is another factor that contributes immensely to customer loyalty. Many at time, customers prefer being valued and treated in a special way for them to remain loyal.