7 Ways to Avoid Losing Customers For your Business

Successful businesses know how to retain customers and even bring in new ones quickly. Gaining and losing customers is a part of business and isn’t necessarily something to worry about. But if you see a continuous decline in the number of customers, then it is time to take stock of why this might be happening. With the spread of digitalisation over the last decade, customers have access to information at their fingertips.

Just like every coin has two sides, there is something positive to take away from digitalisation from the business owner’s perspective. The internet has made it much easier to connect with customers and target new customers online. This piece talks about the problems faced by businesses, especially losing customers, and how to attract customers by leveraging the digital platform.

6 Reasons Why You Are Losing Your Customers & How To Prevent It

1. Poor customer service

The first step in finding a solution is to recognise the problem. As a business owner, you certainly love your team that is working for your dream. But at the same time, it is important to make sure that the team is delivering high-quality customer service that meets the expectations of the customers. This point is especially important for the customer-facing team, including the receptionist, customer manager, and BPO call persons solving the customer’s queries. These persons are like your business ambassadors who interact with your revenue source. If you are losing business, then the chances are that your customer service team is not performing well or interacting with the customers well. Turn this challenge around into an opportunity to gather feedback and come up with innovative solutions.

2. Product/service not meeting expectations

This is one of the prime reasons for losing customers and is a common problem faced by all businesses. Use the feedback from your customers and talk to them to find out what complaints they have about your products or services. Use this feedback to help make changes to design or build better quality products/services. Hire a skilled product designer to help you with this. Remember, your customers also generate leads by talking to their friends and family about your product. If your end goal is to convert to sales, this will reflect in the attitude towards the customers. However, if your goal is to help your customer achieve their goal for which they are using your product/ service, you are more likely to win the loyalty of these customers.

3. Not showcasing the value

By value, we do not mean the monetary price, but rather the value that a customer gets after buying your product/service. The value for which the product/service is sold should be in proportion to the price charged for it. Remember that there are multiple solution providers in the market. Hence, it is easy for the customer to move on to the next business if not satisfied. And if you are just starting a small business, you cannot afford to engage in price wars.

First, to counter this problem, identify the unique value proposition that makes you the best solution provider in the market. Your customers need to know how your product/service will solve their problems and why your solution makes you different from the competitors. Publicise this Unique Value Proposition (UVP) on multiple platforms so that you have a more extensive reach and generate a sense of authority on this solution.

4. Inconsistency in business

Consistency raises trust. This is something you need to remember when thinking of how to gain customers and how to grow your business. Businesses must remember to have a human touch in their relationship with the end consumers; the people at the other end are going through a complete journey after buying your product/service.

It is essential to deliver an experience that those customers will remember and increase their trust. It is important to train your employees on maintaining a continuous and healthy relationship with the customers and hold them accountable for the service delivery. Another way to create a solid customer base is by having a sound policy for refunds, returns and deliverables.

5. Outdated sales tactics

This is a fundamental problem of businesses incorporated, especially in the last decade when there wasn’t widespread digitalisation. As more people get educated and access the internet, they start interacting with a range of platforms. The internet provides deep knowledge of any topic, and hence customers today are rational buyers. Modern businesses can no longer claim to have the best product and expect the customers to believe it. It is very easy to research on the internet for better deals, and if found, you could lose a potential customer.

To fix this, you can start interacting with customers over the online platform and use the digital marketing approach, which is easier than conventional marketing and saves your resources.

6. Not listening to present customers

You already have a fixed base of customers who have availed of your service/product and have feedback for you. It is important to listen to these customers and cater to them before spending resources on finding new customers. Their feedback will help you improve your business by ensuring more return customers, and if they are satisfied, it will also help you with free word-of-mouth marketing. While spending your time and resources finding new customers, don’t forget to pay equal attention to your old customers.

7. Not learning from mistakes

Every business makes mistakes, and the ones who know how to rectify and learn from these mistakes are the ones that succeed. When you are looking to grow your business, it is important to track the performance of your products/services. This is ensured through the quality checks and the feedback from customers. Similarly, review the performance of your team members who directly impact the relationship with the customers, such as the sales and marketing team, customer service/relationship, etc. Support them by investing in their training and taking valuable feedback from them on improving the final products/services.

Conclusion

It is normal for any business to lose customers from time to time, but this can be fixed with small checks and improvements in daily operations. First, identify the root cause of the problem, then start working on the solution of the problem. You can even use automation and software like OKCredit/ OKStaff to make your daily operations easier.

Also read:

1) Best Tips for Customer Retention for a Small Business
2) Tips to Understand Your Market while Starting a Small Business
3) Tips for Businesses to Overcome the Covid Blues - Revival Tips for Businesses
4) What are the keys to success when operating a small scale business?
5) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

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FAQs

Q. What to do when the products/ services are not meeting expectations?

Ans. For this challenge, you can focus on designing and building quality products and services. It should do what it claims initially and must follow the words you are marketing. If you need to shell out extra money to bring quality products, do it. This will ultimately help your business stay afloat by catering to the customers’ needs. Another important skill to have is to manage expectations, as sometimes misaligned expectations can create problems.

Q. What can you do to solve the problem of poor customer experience?

Ans. Few measures that you can take to retain your customers are shortening the resolution time, getting customer-friendly executives, and putting technical and work-oriented people away from this role. Customers expect to be treated with empathy and patience to understand their needs, and this is a skill-set that your teams can learn through training. Next, outline a customer service framework and best practices and teach it to your customer service executives. You can also conduct occasional workshops and build a team cohesively through games/fun sessions and support your team.

Q. Can I gain customers through conventional marketing?

Ans. While the direct answer is yes, you cannot be sure of the effectiveness of this strategy. Conventional marketing is quickly taking a back seat due to the presence of easy digital marketing methods. Try adopting digital marketing approaches that are customer-friendly and save your resources.