Here’s a groundbreaking truth: Customer retention is key to the growth of a business.

Good customer retention rate means increased customer lifetime value, increased revenue, lower customer acquisition cost, and higher average order value.

But what can you do to improve them? While it can be difficult, there are several books available in the market that help you understand and optimize your retention rates. So in this guide, we’ll cover the top 10 customer retention books for CSMs to read.

The Art of CRM: Proven strategies for modern customer relationship management

The Art of CRM provides a detailed understanding of customer retention. The book was written by Max Fatouretchi, who has over 20 years in the field of customer relationship management.

What makes it a must-read

While this book is written for CRM practitioners, it holds detailed insights that anyone looking to upgrade their knowledge on customer retention can benefit from it. To make it a practical read, Fatouretch discusses the processes as well as case studies of successful CRM projects. Some of the topics discussed in the book include AI and ML.

Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies

This is the fourth edition of the book written by Francis Buttle and Stan Maklan. Apart from being a huge repository of knowledge on CRM, this updated version also adds new case studies and updated screenshots and includes emerging CRM trends such as AI, big data, chatbots, etc.

What makes it a must-read

The best thing about this book is that it is structured around the concepts of software, analytics, and operations. The Art of CRM takes on a managerial perspective to discuss the role of CRM software in customer journeys. It helps professionals broaden their knowledge of digital marketing, customer experience management, relationship marketing, and technologies.

Keep Your Customers: How to Stop Customer Turnover, Improve Retention and Get Lucrative, Long-Term Loyalty

Written by Ali Cudby, Keep Your Customers is a must-read customer retention book with valuable insights into lead nurturing.

What makes it a must-read

It presents the readers with a fresh perspective on customer relations and throws light on fail-proof strategies for long-term customer value. This book shares best practices from world leaders from different industries, and it also includes success stories and interviews with global CEOs. It also helps CSMs solve complex customer relations concerns.

The Customer Centricity Playbook: Implement a Winning Strategy Driven by Customer Lifetime Value

Authored by Peter Fader and Sarah E. Toms, The Customer Centricity Playbook is an ideal read for CSMs. It’s immensely helpful for understanding more about customer lifetime value and the elements supporting it.

What makes it a must-read

The book serves as a comprehensive guide based on the premise that every customer is unique, and the retention strategy should be as unique as the customer. The book offers valuable insights to develop winning strategies for customer retention and acquisition.

Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth

Written by Robert Skrob, who has over 25 years of experience in membership growth, this book is a must-read for CSMs. It offers several useful insights on customer retention.

What makes it a must-read

This book talks in detail about customer retention points. It provides insights into where customers buy, why they love a particular brand, and how to know if the customers are loyal. The author also provides detailed insights on the drawbacks of your customer retention approaches and how to turn them around. Plus it offers success stories and ten retention point accelerators.

Fighting Churn with Data: The Science and Strategy of Customer Retention

Written by Carl S. Gold, the book provides valuable information for a subscription-based business. It gives detailed insights into the importance of repeat customers for these businesses and how it impacts business growth.

What makes it a must-read

It talks in detail about customer churn and how important it is for subscription-based businesses to know how to use data to reduce churn. The book serves as a hands-on guide that shows how to use data to fight churn. Fighting Churn with Data also talks in detail about churn, measuring metrics, and forecasting using real-world examples.

Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success

Authored by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown, this book is one of the best books that will show you how to think like a future marketer. One can learn how to conduct in-depth data analysis and how to consider adding features to products that directly promote growth.

What makes it a must-read

This book serves as a fun and accessible guide to understanding marketing, growth, and customer retention. It’s immensely helpful for marketers and CSMs to understand the most efficient methodologies required to find out and optimize strategies to accelerate their growth.

Customer Retention on the Internet: Investigating the Impact of Portal Quality on User Retention. The Case of E-Health Service Providers

Authored by Thao-Binh and Pham-Thi, this book sheds light on the key determinants of customer loyalty to customer retention by taking the case of e-health providers.

What makes it a must-read

CSMs, irrespective of the industry they work in, can gain a lot of knowledge from the study discussed in the book. It talks about service quality over the internet and how it plays a significant role in customer retention.

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Written by Eric Ries, this is a must-read for CS leaders, CSMs, and everyone in management. The book provides insights on how to increase the capital investment of a start-up.

What makes it a must-read

The Lean Startup has a kind of unmissable logic that makes it a great read for everyone in an organization. It stresses testing ideas before placing huge bets on them and encourages failure as an essential part of the learning curve. It also provides insights on how an MVP approach is the best fit, especially for B2B startups. This is important for CSMs because they can understand the ‘how of product/market fit.’

Managing Customer Experience and Relationships: A Strategic Framework

This book is authored by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. Together, these authors have already written eight best-selling books. In the third edition of ‘Managing Customer Experience and Relationships: A Strategic Framework,’ they help businesses enhance their dynamics with the customer.

What makes it a must-read

This book talks at length about customer relationships and their role in generating revenue. It provides recent case studies and examples, along with recent insights from current industry leaders. It has some valuable information about customer relationships, models to improve CSM ROI, and optimization metrics.

Conclusion

If business growth is what you are looking for, then customer retention is what you should focus on. Brands that prioritize retention are 3X more likely to grow market share than those that prioritize acquisition.

Customer loyalty is the cornerstone to customer retention; building genuine connections with your users is the key to gaining consumer loyalty. How can a brand build a loyal customer base? By understanding and addressing what customers want along with the right message delivered on the right channel at the right time.

And with the customer retention books discussed above, the solid foundation you need might be only a page away. Have any thoughts on these books? Comment below and let us know!

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