does it cost less to keep customers?

Have you ever heard that it’s something like 5x less costly to keep an existing customer than it is to win a new one?

I call bullshit on that.

The arguments I hear and am given amount to paying a marketing team, a sales team, paying for ads (both brand and direct response), maintaining a website, etc etc.

As if any of those costs are solely related to getting new customers. Getting crystal clear cost attribution is like getting full customer lifecycle attribution. A fantasy and a waste of time.

The intent behind the idea is sound. We work so hard to get customers. We should work hard to keep them, because the longer they stay the more profit we make.

That’s why I’m reading 7 Pillars of Customer Success. And if you’ll indulge me for the next several emails, I’ll share my notes on the book’s ideas.

Something that sits in the back of my mind when learning about AI and how we build software and new tools is that it’s going to be easier than ever to change. Change from one CRM to another. From one email platform to another.

If we can’t keep customers long enough to turn a profit on them, what are we even doing? So customer success is going to get more important, regardless of how much it costs compared to getting new customers.

Peter

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PS: Do you know what your churn is? Reply and I can help you figure it out.