B2B growth hacks: From acquisition to retention6 min read

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You’ve probably heard the saying, “it’s easier to keep a customer than acquire a new one.” And that’s true. But what if we told you that not only is it easier, but it will continually result in a greater ROI? In fact, research shows that acquiring new customers will cost you 5X more than retaining the ones you have. So isn’t it time we put our energy into keeping the ones we’ve got?

In this guide, we’ll show you all of our favourite B2B growth hacks that will help you increase your client list and lower your churn rate.

What is B2B growth hacking?

At its core, growth hacking is an approach to digital marketing that uses a mix of data analysis, experimentation, and creativity to help businesses grow as quickly and efficiently as possible.

What does “growth” mean in this context? Well, for one thing, it doesn’t mean growing your bottom line, at least not directly. Instead, it means adding new customers and keeping them around for as long as possible. These are the customers who are most likely to keep coming back to your company and spending money regularly.

To be successful in B2B growth hacking, you shouldn’t rely on the growth hacking strategies that work for other companies. You need to do something different. And while having a great team is certainly important, having the right digital marketing tools is even more critical.

That’s because a lot of what makes B2B growth hacking effective isn’t just creativity. It’s getting the data you need and acting on it quickly. You’ve got to have real-time information at your fingertips, so you know how best to reach your customers before they slip away.

Best growth hacking tools

There are a lot of tools out there promising to help you grow your business. But if you’ve been around the growth hacking block for very long, you know that the majority of those tools are focused on acquiring more customers, rather than saving existing ones.

If you’re not careful, you can end up with a lot of visitors who have no idea how to use your product, and they’ll just bounce right off again.

That’s why today, we’re going to take a look at some strategies churn prevention that you can use in conjunction with acquisition tools for a more holistic approach to growth hacking.

B2B growth hacks: Step-by-step churn prevention

1. Re-marketing

We’re talking about how many people you are driving back to your site, whether they simply displayed initial interest, started a trial of your product or are a contract customer. Sometimes, even customers who are paying their bill each month need a little nudge or a reminder to get value from your product or service.

You can re-market to users on several channels including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, and more.

Understanding how well each channel is working for your company is critical for effective growth hacking.

What metrics should you track?

There are four key metrics you’ll want to track: impressions, returning website traffic, visit-to-action conversion rate (did they engage, or move to the next phase of your funnel), and how long it takes on average for a person to click through from one page to another.

Why does this matter?

When you have a good sense of which channels bring the highest volume of users and what their quality is like, then you can optimise accordingly.

2. Re-activation

Test your website and look at how many people stick around after their first visit. To do this, you’ll want to look at whether they signed up for your email list or blog, used your app, or read your content.

The most straightforward way to do this is by using Google Analytics and Google Optimise (both of which are free). You’ll be able to see which pages are getting the most traffic, which ones are getting the most engagement, and where there may be some friction that’s preventing people from continuing down the funnel (e.g., if you have a form with too many lines).

Next, find ways to optimise conversions by simplifying the opt-in process for subscribers. If you have an opt-in form with too many lines, try removing one field. You might consider removing a field in the form such as a credit card number that most leads will avoid (especially when signing up for a free trial). You might also consider allowing people to sign up using an already-existing account e.g., Google.

You can also experiment with the user interface since a friendly and clear UI is crucial to getting your customers to complete your desired action.

3. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are a great way to keep people coming back for more. Time-limited sales can create “fear of missing out” among your customers, which will keep them tuned into your brand. Regular email alerts can help ensure that your customers are always aware of any exciting news or updates from your company – so they’ll never be bored or disinterested by what you’re doing or offering.

These methods work great together as well. A study by Facebook and Salesforce showed that combining Facebook ads with emails can increase the reach of your campaign, increasing your Return on Investment.

4. Cancellation processes

You could deploy each and every churn prevention tactic above, but some customers are still going to be looking for your cancel button when they feel a frustration with your service, or begin to find your product less valuable.

This is where customer retention platforms, such as Upzelo can help. They address 3 key areas:

• Identify and uncover insights about why customers cancel so you can make product improvements.
• Integrates your organisation’s existing data, to segment customers.
• Delivers retention offers during the cancellation process, to save customers.

To hack your way to success in this area you’re going to need to find to find the best customer-retention management platform to implement where your customers cancel. And, as with all of the points above you’ll need to be prepared to fight with the acquisition marketing team for some budget to help you save customers from leaving with the right offer. It’s an easy win, as it’s typically known that acquiring new customers can cost x5 more than keeping an existing customer.

What metrics should you track?

When implementing a cancellation process, it’s important to have a baseline of comparison. It’s likely your business already has a method in place, such as an “email to cancel” process or even a survey link to collect cancellation insights. Take a look at the save rate, churn rate, cost per retained customer alongside tactics deployed in the existing process first, and outline some ways to improve.

Why does it matter?

Implementing any new process and reporting on the successes now, without looking back to the previous state of play won’t prove anything to your boss. So it’s always worth starting the whole process with a baseline from which to improve.

Conclusion

There are a lot of growth hacks that your B2B company can use right now. Mix a few of them, and you’ll have an unstoppable formula for success for your business. Start using them today and watch your conversions rise!

Customers are fickle. They come, they go. But what if you had a better idea of why they were leaving and how to stop it? That’s where Upzelo comes in. As a customer-retention management platform, we use predictive analytics to determine which customers are most likely to cancel their subscriptions so you can take steps to prevent them from doing so.

We’d love to set up a time for a demo so you can see how our platform works in action.