Customer Relationships: Is leaving you too easy?
When a customer leaves the fold, the tendency is to blame outside forces. They were shopping price. They had a change in personnel. They thought they could do it in house. They know someone over there. Of course any of these, and many others, could be true. Rarely, however, are they happening in a vacuum. There are other dynamics at work that have made it easy for someone to change allegiances.
On my commute there is a Dunkin’ Donuts and a McDonald’s across the street from each other. I always went to Dunkin’ Donuts believing their coffee to be superior. Then McDonald’s did two things. They made all their coffee 99¢ and they introduced what they called their New England blend (from partner Newman’s Own.)
Saving a buck here and there is appealing to me in this time of tightened budgets – so the price caught my eye. Likewise, the new blend and its nice little regional ad campaign. I’d tried and liked Newman’s Own iced coffee so there was a little bit of brand equity at work here.
People, me included, don’t like to change. It’s hard. It means admitting you’ve bet on the wrong horse. It means altering habits. It means changing your identity in some way. (I was a Nike guy, now I’m an Asics guy.) There has to be a good reason, or maybe multiple good reasons, to go through the effort.
There is a Dunkin’ Donuts in my hometown that’s great. Friendly service. Consistent product. In fact most of my DD experiences are good. But at the Dunkin’ on my commute, I started to notice coffee inconsistencies. Some days the coffee was perfect, other days it tasted, well, wrong. That was the first straw. Second straw, service. The folks behind the counter never smiled and were all about getting people in and out – nice for busy commuters but a “Hi, how are you” doesn’t take more than a few seconds. Last straw: lines. Too many people. I was just one of the masses.
McD's and DD Battle for Bruce's Business
I was ripe for the picking. And they got me. But, it didn’t have to end that way. If the people at Dunkin’ Donuts had taken a few seconds to create some kind of bond with me, I would have been less likely to stray. If the coffee was perfect everyday, so that I looked forward to it (rather than wondering what version I would get), I would still be turning right rather than left.
This is just one minor example. But be warned: this same process is happening all the time. Will I change insurance brokers? Will I change churches? Will I change candidates? Will I change toothpaste? Will I change colleges? Will I change mates?
You’re someone’s client. How do you want to be treated? Do you want to be remembered once a year with a holiday card? Contacted only when an invoice is due? Called only when there is an upside for them? Ask yourself: what makes you stay with a product, a company or even a person? What makes you leave?
From your customer’s point-of-view, how do you think you’re doing at making it impossibly hard for them to leave you? Not sure? Ask them directly. Just by opening the dialogue you’ll be starting down the right path.
Relationships of any kind are hard. Strong bonds come from things like familiarity, reliability and thoughtfulness. And from regular, meaningful interaction. (This does not necessarily translate to convenient or cheap.)
In the day-to-day grind, it’s easy to forget who got you where you are today. The problem is, they don’t forget. And, being human, customers will go where they are happiest. Make sure you’re not leaving the door wide open for them to pack their things and move on.
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Posted by:
Bruce Kaechele
Email the author:
brucek@fathom.net
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Hi Bruce – great read here! You said it very well and I think what happens is a lot of brands seem to forget about their touch points. In the world of food/retail one of the most important touch points of all are the employees on the front lines. I’ve had the pleasurable experience of working on some big food brands over the years and from my experience a lot of them are so focused on the operations of the business that they lose sight of the most important thing – the customer.
-Derek (@derekbeere)
Hi Derek,
Do you think it’s a conscious choice? Or do you think it just happens because operations (big generalization coming) are, or at least feel, safe and neat and controllable? “Everyone knows” that as soon as the human factor gets in the mix things get messy and hard and time consuming. Is it just easier to justify time spent on the measurable vs. the invisible so that’s where business naturally settles?
Thanks for commenting,
Bruce
Hi Bruce! A super late response here, but, I did want to comment back. I think it can go either way. Some organizations focus big time on the operations because that is what ultimately rings the cash register and (theoretically) improves the customer experience of things like fast service and so forth. It’s also more easily controlled, as you said.
On the flipside, I think sophisticated organizations bake in great customer service into their brand. What comes to mind here is a shopping experience at Whole Foods versus Stop & Shop or Nordstrom versus Macy’s.
Hope that makes sense
Derek