The main reason why customers leave a company is because they believe that you don’t care about them. Almost 68% of those who leave feel this way.
Another reason your customers leave is because they had a bad experience with you. According to Oracle, 89% of those who had a bad experience will switch to another company, citing poor customer service as the reason. Some whose experience is bad attribute it to unfair treatment. If they perceive they are being treated unfairly, even if you don’t, that could be a trigger to move on to another supplier.
Limited access to customer support can frustrate a buyer and cause them to leave. Whether you take customer requests for help by phone, email or on-line, customers are looking for answers right now and don’t like waiting until tomorrow. If someone else’s customer service is more readily available, this could be a reason to leave your company for theirs.
Just as word of mouth can work for you positively, it can also work against you. Every person who has a bad experience will tell at least two people, who in turn will pass the word along causing a ripple effect. In a recent study, it was revealed that broken promises are a breach of trust that can cause buyers to want to punish and seek revenge on the organization that failed to honor them. This revenge, many times, appears on social media in the form of a rant where many people see it.
Data from Marketing Wizdom found that about 20% of customers are lost by an average business annually due to a lack of a cordial relationship. This 20% needs to be recovered in new business just to stay even. It would seem a wise move to work to retain as many clients as possible.
