This month between 10,000 and 100,000 people will search for the term “home care agency.”
A similar number are searching for “home health agency,” and “home health aide,” according to Google.
Why?
It could be that these people are upset with their home care service. Are they your clients?
Do they have some issues over your workers’ service? Are they looking for another aide from you, or even considering switching to another company?
Have you lost touch with your client? They might have an unspoken gripe with you.
Home care customer retention
Maybe the fire alarm has not yet sounded. But businesses in general lose around 15% of customers each year. And it costs five times as much to gain a new customer as to retain a current one, according to the Invesp Blog.
More than two-thirds (70%) of respondents to a survey, according to the Invesp Blog, agree that it’s cheaper to retain than acquire a customer. And yet, 44% of companies in general have a greater focus on customer acquisition, as compared to 18% that focus on retention, Invesp says.
So it’s time to review some basics. How much attention do you give to customer retention for your home care agency? Do you have a system to keep in touch with your clients? To know their level of contentment?
Yes, I know that some clients like to complain. Some have all kinds of demands. Sometimes these demands are unreasonable. You hear from these. But what about the ones who don’t complain? They might have a legitimate complaint. Suddenly they decide to switch to another home care service.
Ways to get feedback
There are various ways to find out what’s on your clients’ minds:
- Feedback from your home care aides about the clients.
- Periodic emails and phone calls to clients.
- Automated emails
- Printed newsletters
Print still rocks
I’d like to talk about print. Yes, you should have an automated enewsletter that goes out two or times per month. They are cheap. Since they are automated, you write them, set them up, and let them work.
But not everyone reads emails. They have a short shelf life. Printed newsletters, on the other hand, last longer. They sit at home and “keep on giving.” They get passed to others. They are attractive. They are a physical, touch-related way to contact your home care clients.
What is the best content in a printed newsletter that you can offer to your home care clients? Here is what we offer in our services, and suggest to you:
Monthly printed newsletter content:
- News from the CEO
- Tips on living safely and health issues
- Original humorous stories
This is the kind of content that would be welcome in their homes.
Now, wouldn’t it be nice to get feedback from your print newsletters? I’ll admit, it doesn’t happen that much. We have found, however, that an email that follows up after the printed newsletter, and asks about it, gets responses. That’s because of course, it’s easier to respond to an email than a printed newsletter. Thus, the email reinforces the printed newsletter.
Have printed newsletters been forgotten in this digital world? According to top copywriter Bob Bly, printed newsletters are making a comeback. Read about my conversation with him.
And according to the Direct Marketing Association, printed media is tactile, personalized, and integrated. Read “11 Reasons Why Direct Mail is Critical in the Digital Age.”
Call us about a coordinated system of email and printed newsletters for your home care clients.
And keep in touch with them!
Did you like this topic? Then read also our article, “Home care client retention – one print idea that works.”
If you’d like to learn more about a marketing system for your home care or senior care company, call the number at the top of the page, or contact us.
