When Customers Stick: Customer Retention by the Numbers





From the small business to a huge corporation, everyone is earnest to know the secret to customer retention. Let’s face the facts: It is sure much easier to keep a customer than to obtain a new one. So, how does one earn repeat business for years and years to come?

Customers That Stick explores this issue in the following infographic where they use various customer retention statistics to break down the three most important aspects of customer retention – why customers leave, why customers stick, and why retained customers mean more money.

customer retention

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David Wallace David Wallace, co-founder and CEO of SearchRank, is a recognized expert in the industry of search and social media marketing. Since 1997, David has been involved in developing successful search engine and social media marketing campaigns for large and small businesses. In additions to his duties at SearchRank, David is editor in chief at Infographic Journal, a blog featuring some today's best infographics and data visualizations.

13 Reactions
  1. Really informative. I agree with all the points raised in here. Customer service or experience will always be the most sought after result that customers will be looking for. As long as a person is easy to deal with, then you can expect repeat business in the months to come.

  2. It’s no surprise that poor staff etiquette is still the leading cause of losing a loyal customer or client. Is it safe to say finding the right employees is just as hard as finding new customers?

  3. David Wallace: It is better to get your customer sticking to your business, than being stuck in the old route of bad customer service or only trying to get new customers all the time, without spending time on customer retention. I am interested to hear more about the studies of customer retention. Up to 16x, that is a huge number!

    Have you read Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones Hardcover
    by Joseph Jaffe?

  4. It’s interesting to see that the top reason for a customer sticking to a brand has nothing to do with tangible things ( money, rewards, discounts ). I guess, people are people after all.. and going the extra mile can simply mean sincerely thanking or apologizing to your customer. Now, the more intriguing part: If this were so simple, how come we haven’t perfected this art yet? And so, the journey goes on as we try to find complex ways of addressing issues when it’s right there in front of your face – if only you looked closer. Thanks for sharing this infographic!

  5. How can I calculate client retention so I can compare how we are doing now compared to the past or future?

  6. Great job on this inforgraph! I really liked how it presented data, without it becoming too intimidating. We all know that it’s easier and more viable to keep an existing client, than win a new one. Personally, I believe it all boils down to excellent customer experience. “Customer care is there to make sure that the consumer can take full advantage of the product/service. It’s not just about answering customer complaints. It’s about helping the customer discover every little bit of what the brand has to offer.”

  7. Very good! Philip Kotler explained this facts in their books.