One of the most reliable ways for an SME to grow is one big businesses have known for years: focus on the customers you already have, not just the ones you’re chasing.
Existing customers are your best growth lever
The probability of selling to an existing customer sits somewhere between 60 and 70%, compared to just 5 to 20% for a brand-new prospect. Roughly 80% of a business’s future profit typically comes from just 20% of its existing customers, and acquiring a new customer costs around five times more than retaining an existing one. An SME focused purely on growing its customer base while neglecting existing relationships is leaving real revenue, and cash, on the table.
You can’t build loyalty without knowing who your customers are
Larger businesses use loyalty programmes to capture customer details and purchase data, enabling genuinely personal, targeted communication. SMEs now have access to equivalent tools without needing enterprise-scale budgets. Whatever service you choose, keep your database compliant with South Africa’s data protection requirements under POPIA.
Why SMS still outperforms in South Africa
With South Africa’s high mobile adoption, SMS remains a genuinely powerful direct channel. Around 98% of SMSes get opened, and it typically takes under two minutes for someone to respond, compared to considerably longer response times for email. Combining an SMS with a link to a personalised web page lets you use the text itself as a subject line, with the real detail delivered through a richer web experience rather than crammed into 160 characters.
Technology enables loyalty, it doesn’t replace good business
None of these tools substitute for a genuinely sound underlying business and a real customer relationship. Used well, they simply make it easier to build the kind of personal, ongoing engagement that keeps existing customers spending, and referring others.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really more profitable to focus on existing customers than chasing new ones?
Yes. Existing customers convert at a far higher rate than new prospects, and typically generate the large majority of a business’s future profit.
Why does SMS still work so well for South African SMEs specifically?
High mobile adoption and near-universal open rates make SMS a genuinely reliable direct channel, with far faster response times than email.
Do I need a big budget to build a customer loyalty programme?
No. Affordable SaaS tools now give SMEs access to the same kind of personalised, data-driven customer engagement that was previously only available to large businesses.
Growing revenue from the customers you already have
Building genuine loyalty among existing customers, backed by a compliant database and a direct channel like SMS, remains one of the most cost-effective growth levers available to an SME.
By Greg Chen, CEO and co-founder of Mobiz, a South African SMS marketing platform.
Further reading: 21 Ways to Generate Word-of-Mouth Marketing | Information Regulator (South Africa) for official POPIA compliance requirements
Originally published in August 2019. Updated September 2026 to confirm Mobiz’s continued growth and refresh this customer-retention guidance. The underlying case for prioritising existing customers remains durable.
