This is a contributor’s blogpost …
When business owners think of their customers, they often look at what they want to see and what they need. In reality, they should also be exploring the things customers absolutely hate and can’t stand at all. Studies show that negative memories and incidents are remembered more clearly compared with positive ones. You are more likely to remember your car crash vividly then every detail about your child’s birthday party.
The problem is if a customer does have a negative experience with your business, they’re more likely to remember this than any positive occurrence that may have happened. It doesn’t matter if you deliver great products when customers deem your service to be awful.
Hidden Fees Or Add-Ons
Various businesses are responsible for this deadly sin. They advertise one fee and then add three more on when the bill actually comes in. This leaves customers disgruntled and confused. There are lots of reasons why fees might be added on, but it doesn’t matter. A customer will never understand or forgive this and you will likely be labeled a false advertiser. A classic example would be the game industry right now where games come out only for additional content to be added a month later for an extra cost. Of course, customers theorize that if content can come out a month later, it could have been ready for the initial release and feel gouged.
Slow Refunds And Ignored Requests
You want to make sure that refunds in your business are as quick as possible. Do not try and delay it hoping that customers will forget. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that refunds aren’t important and that you can ignore these consumers. No refund or a slow refund and you can all but guarantee a negative review online. You can’t fight a review like this either, particularly if a customer has spent months waiting to get money back you assured them was coming. Luckily, there are plenty of software solutions offered by companies like BlueSnap that can solve this issue completely.
No Tracking
Are you delivering products to customers and clients. If so, it’s worth doing what you can to make sure that they can track and take full control of a delivery. Don’t leave them in a position where they are unable to find out when it’s coming or even where it’s going. You’ll get constant calls to your helpdesk asking for information and people desperately looking for products that may not be arriving for months. It’s always best to keep customers in the loop.
Photo courtesy of Public Domain Pictures via Pixabay
Please Stay On The Line…
No, this should not be a phrase that people hear in 2018. There’s no need for it anymore. You can get automated response software or call back systems that mean customers don’t have to wait for hours to speak to one of your employees. By this point a customer isn’t going to be reasonable or attentive, they are going to be furious. Regardless of how well your staff handles the situation, you’re not going to win customer approval. Do whatever you have to and cut out the customers on hold in your business model.
Take this advice, and you can avoid the business sins that will leave your customers seeing red.
