5 Habits to Improve Customer’s Experience and Stop Losing Customers

When a customer stops doing business with you it sucks but when it’s due to a bad customer experience it’s even worse. That’s why establishing great habits focused around delighting your customers are an essential component to maintaining a high level of customer retention.

So here are 5 bad habits that cause customers to leave and how to turn them into good habits.

Habit #1 You’re Hard to Trust
Habit #2 You Don’t Create Value
Habit #3 You’re Being too Literal
Habit #4 You Have a Crap Team
Habit #5 You Don’t Care

89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience.

(Salesforce Research)

Habit #1

Bad Habit: You’re Hard to Trust

Determine at what levels customers are not trusting your business, evaluate solutions, and implement accordingly. Hubspot research showed recently that “81% of consumers trust their friends and family’s advice over advice from a business.” Thus, authentic relationship building is the direction to pursue to increase customer retention.

Good Habit: Establish Trust through Consistency

While trust is mostly built through actual interactions with your company, how your company is presented through visuals and messaging is just as vital. So make sure your business is consistent across all platforms that are accessible to your customer.

Habit #2

Bad Habit: You Don’t Create Value

What is the value you provide through your service? Satisfied customers are those who perceive greater value in paying for your product or service than another option, or doing it themselves. Keep in mind, adding value does not necessarily mean lowering prices. Value can be added with superior customer relationship management, reworking your service plans to provide more for the same price, and various other methods.

Good Habit: Provide an unmatched level of perceived value.

Think of your service/product in terms of how it solves the problems that your customer has and giving them the value they expect for the price they pay. Now, knowing this, begin to clearly communicate the value through your marketing and customer experience segments of the business. Remember, keep the focus on them – not you.

For example, do you make pizza? Or do you provide a community focused meal that your audience can gather around?

Habit #3

Bad Habit: You’re Being too Literal

Can customers become enthusiastic about your business? Or is it no big deal to them? To prevent apathy, clearly communicate why you offer what you offer. It is not about the features of the service, because your competitors offer the same – or very similar – services. To keep your customers emotionally engaged with your business requires proactive measures to make them feel like they won’t get the same level or care, attention, transparency, etc. This is strongly related to the way you brand your business.

Good Habit: Focus on the Benefits

When you focus on the benefits offered and how they’ll solve your customers problem an emotional tie is easier to create. For example: Instead of saying “our cell phone service has great reception worldwide,” say “stay connected with loved ones no matter where your travels take you.”

A great place to get inspiration for this is from Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, revolutionized why businesses are in business and this revolution is still raging. His core methology is based around the question, Why do you do what you do? If your business didn’t offer any products or services yet, what would you tell people that you were about? If your explanation of your business only involves what you do and the tools and methods you use to do it, then take the time to define your ”why” and approach your marketing with that perspective.

Habit #4

Bad Habit: You Have a Crap Team

Employees are the #1 asset of any business. Without your people, your business does not do business. And if you’re team resembles a revolving door, chances are your customers might not feel compelled to return. Implementing high standards of employee care to keep employee turnover at a minimum is the start to mitigating customer loss due to personnel changes.

78% of customers have backed out of a purchase due to a poor customer experience.

(Glance)

Good Habit: Apply the “Platinum Rule”

Work hard for your employees just as you do for your customers. Beyond what it would look like to follow the “Golden Rule,” where you do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Instead, apply the “Platinum Rule,” which is better than gold, and do better for your employees than they would even expect to be treated.

Start by knowing what their expectations are. You can run an anonymous survey to collect information. There are also beneficial ways to support their mental health while at work.

Try turning decision making a more collaborative process. You might be surprised at how many of your employees and former employees leave (and as a result, how many customers leave) because they feel like they aren’t heard.

Habit #5

Bad Habit: You Don’t Care

Customer needs are ever changing, and they’ll leave if their needs aren’t met. If you’re focusing on selling products rather than solving problems, you could miss a huge opportunity.

Understandably, you cannot please everyone, but you can target customers with specific services and ways of conducting business to convert that niche group into satisfied, loyal customers.

63% of consumers expect businesses to know their unique needs and expectations, while 76% of B2B buyers expect the same thing.

(Salesforce Research)

Good Habit: Be Adaptable

Adapt your products and services to changing customer needs. There could be a better solution for your clients and customers. Go. Find it. And provide that new, better solution to your customers.1 in 3 social media users prefer social media customer care services to phone or email.
(Social Media Today)

Unleash the Growth Potential of Your Business

It starts with tapping into what every business already has! Customers. Increase Customer Loyalty