No business wants to drive away customers. Even a business which has 90% of the market, still wants to go after that elusive 10%.
Unfortunately it happens. Poor policies and substandard practices send customers running to your competitors. As these examples show, your customer service (or lack of) may have more to do with it than you think.
Failing to deliver on your promises
The mission statement and fancy advertisements are a far cry from the actual customer experience. What some companies do is put most of their resources into bringing customers in and considerably less to keep them. Customers expect you to do what you say you will do, but are willing to forgive small missteps if they know they can trust you to deliver on your promises.
Long lines and slow service
Nobody likes to wait. If your phone constantly rings to voicemail, customers wait for more than ten minutes to be acknowledged, or long lines is the norm and you’re not selling the lottery, then you have a problem. Millennials who grew up on the internet are now young adults and fast becoming the main consumer demographic for many businesses. They are accustomed to immediacy and are well informed about the choices available to them through your competitors. Patience is not a virtue they are willing to exercise when it comes to spending their money.
Selling too much
With the range of social media channels and alternate advertising media, it’s no wonder many companies oversell. They inundate their customers with marketing messages without any definite strategy to garner feedback which could improve their product or service. In fact, some companies hardly listen to the ‘free’ feedback on social media, unless there is a viral campaign launched against them. It’s good to maintain visibility, and share information about products and services, but if customers are not engaging or responding negatively, it could be a sign that you’ve been tuned out.
Shift your focus from customer acquisition to customer loyalty and let existing customers bring others in. Increasingly, customers don’t mind paying a little bit more for a great experience. When that happens, they are more likely to go out as honorary marketers for your business and tell others about their experience.