Pest Control Customer Retention Strategies: How To Keep Customers Coming Back for More

You want long-term profitability for your business. You know that in the pest control industry, customer retention is a good predictor of that. 

So you work hard to train your technicians and build customer loyalty — but you’re still losing customers. 

You’re not alone. Like other home service businesses, most pest control companies see high customer churn. 

Want to know the biggest reason for customer turnover? Keep reading. We answer that question and give you the top pest control customer retention strategies.

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Why Is Customer Retention So Important in the Pest Control Industry?

Like with any service industry, customers can drive or destroy your pest control business.

Happy customers will likely: 

• Keep coming back 
• Refer you to others; and 
• Inadvertently help your business grow

So, how do you keep customers happy? Surprisingly, having the lowest or most competitive prices isn’t the best way to keep your pest control customers coming back.

Trust and quality are key for customer retention. 

A State of Service report found that 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as the company’s products or services. And 83% of customers say they have more loyalty to companies that provide consistency. 

It’s more important now than ever for pest control companies to understand their customer churn rate and how to earn and keep customer trust. Customers today are more aware and have more options for providers. With the ease of just one click, they can cancel service with you and switch to a new provider. 

At Cedar Pest, we are passionate about helping you have a more successful business through our pest control software with tools that help build trust for your customers.

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4 Ways To Avoid Customer Churn in the Pest Control Industry

The way you interact with customers sets their expectations. If you’re meeting or exceeding their expectations consistently, you’ll have a better chance of maintaining their loyalty.

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#1: Do the Job Right

Be worthy of your customers’ trust. 

As with any home service business, trust is vital. Customers are inviting and welcoming you into their homes. 

They are trusting you to be:

• Professional 
• Genuine; and
• Knowledgeable 

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Present Yourself Well

Make sure you and your technicians always make a good impression (not just a good first impression). 

For example, uniforms should always be clean. Customers appreciate when they can trust you won’t brush up against their sofa with dirt on your pants or track footprints throughout their home with wet shoes. 

Customers expect technicians to be:

• Timely 
• Kind
• Respectful; and
• Trustworthy 

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Educate Your Clients

You train your technicians to provide excellent, professional service. But are you training your customers? 

It’s an unexpected way to improve customer relationships while adding to a healthy bottom line. Educating your clients further demonstrates your transparency. 

When educated properly, customers are appreciative and have more confidence in paying for services. 

Give them all the information they need, including … 

• What needs to be done
• Why it needs to be done
• How it will be done
• How long it will take to work
• How long it will last

… and any other information that can help them feel confident in your work. 

Also, take the time to thoroughly explain warranty information and who to contact with any further questions.

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Be Transparent

Long gone are the days when homeowners would fall for sleazy sales tactics. 

Customers appreciate and respect transparency. Don’t try to sell them things they don’t need. 

Be honest about what you’re doing and why before you even begin — and then go above and beyond. 

Educate and align your technicians to consistently provide this kind of genuine service. It only takes one bad experience to lose a customer for life!

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Be Proactive

A strong customer relationship should be personal — not transactional. 

Although churn can be expected in the pest control industry, proactive customer engagement can help to significantly lower it. It can help you detect discomfort and get ahead of customer issues or concerns. 

Some ideas for being proactive with your customers include:

• Keeping communication open with your customers
• Regularly conducting surveys
• Paying attention to your customers online
• Leveraging technology
• Assembling and empowering the right team

A deeper understanding of customer expectations can help you be proactive in meeting their expectations and keep them happier in the process.

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#2: Cultivate Your Brand

You want people to recognize your logo when they pass by your truck. You want a customer to breathe a sigh of relief when your technicians pull into their driveways. You want customers to trust your brand. 

But how do you get your brand out there in a sea of other companies? 

Two ways:

1. Make social media work for you. 
2. Build your online reviews.

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Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Social media not only …

• Builds online presence
• Showcases your values and brand personality 
• Expands your reach
• Increases conversions; and
• Nurtures existing customer relationships 

… but it can also be used to build trust through education. 

When you regularly post educational information, you’re creating the image that you know what you’re doing. 

Include short videos and graphics your customers will appreciate and want to see. Show the good, the bad, and the ugly of pest issues — assuring them you’re ready to face any problem with confidence.

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Accumulate (Good) Reviews

Good reviews make customers feel confident in you before you even have a chance to provide pest control services for them. They also remind current customers why they can continue trusting in you. 

With so much competition, you’ve got to stand out. A multitude of past and present customers singing your company’s praises will do the trick. 

To help build your online reviews, try these ideas:

• Give branded postcards showing how to leave a review.
• Train technicians to confidently ask for a review. 
• Engage with each review, whether positive or negative. 
• Strive to right any wrongs. 
• Always provide outstanding service worthy of a positive review. 
• Have a business profile on multiple platforms (Google, Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

Building reviews will help with the overall trust for your company. When people see your brand, they’ll know you’re the company they can rely on. 

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#3: Make Things Right

No one is perfect. And even if your technicians do everything right, something may still go wrong. Or your customers might still be unhappy. 

Customer churn can happen when customers feel their expectations haven’t been met. Proper communication is vital to keeping expectations clear. 

Ensure your customers understand: 

• How your pest control service works
• How your re-service policy works
• The details of any warranties or guarantees 

It’s a great idea for companies to call the customer after their first treatment to follow up. You can ask for permission to do this during the initial service visit. This can help assure there are no additional questions or misunderstandings. These follow-up calls are invaluable in helping you earn your customer’s long-term loyalty.

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Utilize Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Information gathered from customer satisfaction surveys provides valuable insight for your pest control company. They help your company stay relevant and better understand your customers’ needs and wants.

Receiving feedback on your services tells you what is working well and what might need some altering. 

This also tells customers that you care — that you want to do what it takes to be the best pest control company for them.

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Offer Warranties or Guarantees

In the event something does go wrong, you can guarantee it will be made right. 

After all, you’re working to build customer:

• Trust
• Loyalty; and
• Confidence 

You can guarantee complete satisfaction, or you’ll do whatever is necessary to be sure they are completely happy with your company and results.

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#4: Provide Customers Tools for Transparency

Have a way to immediately and effectively communicate with your customers. You can increase transparency and trust for customers by using automated notifications.

You can use automated notifications to increase transparency by letting your customers know:

• The technician’s arrival time
• When the service is complete 
• Their invoice is ready
• What chemicals were used
• Details of work performed 
• And more

These tools go a long way in showing there’s nothing to hide and that your pest control company cares about them and their safety. This builds trust — and customers will know you have their backs.

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Utilize Pest Control Customer Management Software

Cedar Pest is a revolutionary pest control management software company that’s focused on providing you with tools and solutions — all designed to maximize your pest control customer retention strategies. 

Our pest control software helps provide your customers with the utmost in customer care with easy-to-use tools, including: 

• Mobile tools
• Customer management
• Scheduling and routing
• Payment processing
• Reporting
• Sale features; and
• Automated notification

Contact us today for your free demo.

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Avoid This One Thing To Keep Your Customers Coming Back

Want a surefire way to ensure customer churn? Lose customer trust. 

If a customer feels like they’re being scammed or fooled, they’re going to leave. Customers want to know that you have their best interest at heart and that they can trust your work. 

Want to have loyal customers? Be worthy of their trust.

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Cedar Pest Software: Intuitive Tools To Help With Customer Retention

You want customer retention. We want that for you! 

We can help you succeed with management software designed specifically for pest control companies. 

Our best-in-class management solution has everything you need to seamlessly handle every aspect of your business.

See for yourself how our management software can help your pest control company become the authority in: 

• Customer relationships 
• Customer trust; and 
• Customer loyalty 

Contact us today to request a demo.

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