Below, Rob Fitzpatrick (author of The Mom test) shares his insights on why retention should matter so much to your early stage startup. 

Can you guess the secret weapon of retention?

As a startup, you can offer instant high-quality support, often doing this better than bigger companies.

Building a product that customers will love should be your main focus. But, rapid and skilled customer service, small personal touches, and a willingness to put things right helps too. You don’t need to hire a customer support team while your business is still taking off, a founder should be able to answer the phone, respond to an online chat query or ask how a recently signed-up customer is finding the service.   

2 other tips to retain your customers

1. Be open to feedback

It’s important to hear about what your customers like, love or loathe about your product. By asking for their feedback, talking to them regularly and being honest about your roadmap of product development, you are demonstrating that you care for them and their product experience like no other competitor can.

Monzo have mastered listening to their users, their community website shows feature requests from customers, crediting those who came up with the idea and when they should be due to go live. 

2. Send gifts and rewards

Follow-up with a proactive check-in or a little gift after someone has bought the product. Huggg, an app that allows users to send food and drink vouchers to others often rewards their users for showing kindness and being generous. 

It might sound simple, but if you care about your customers, they will care about you back. The golden rule to treat others as you would want to be treated, is as true in business as in life.