Why does a company lose its customers?

Mr. Whoever, that loyal and generous customer who was subscribed to all the services your company offers, who never complained about anything and who answered to every happy birthday wishes you sent him, has stopped being your client.

Now, you can’t stop looking at his picture every day. Sometimes, while you hold it by the frame and stare at it, a tear runs down your cheek. Why are you losing customers? What have you done wrong? Which mistakes have you made to deserve this?

This is an exaggeration, and it probably never happened (or maybe it did, there are very sensitive people out there). But that doesn’t mean you don’t mind losing customers, right?

To avoid your crying for this kind of losses and for you to be able to take some steps in order to avoid them, you should know why a good customer would want to leave a company. Stop suffering. Today we will find out about some of the most common reasons why your customers could say goodbye.

You have bad customer service

A large number of studies claim that poor customer service is the most common cause of users terminating a company’s services, and so, the reason behind your company losing customers.
We have already talked about the importance of having a customer service as precise as a clock (one of the good ones), so we will not repeat ourselves. But don’t forget that having a customer service that is educated, happy and equipped with the necessary technological tools is essential for customer experience to be satisfactory and for your company to be on track, so don’t neglect it. Your business will thank you.

You offer poor quality products or services

Do you have any doubts about this reason? If you sell tomatoes and they carry a surprise in the shape of a bug inside, it is likely that no one will buy them from you ever again. Be honest with yourself. Do you sell really good products? Would you pay for them if you were your client? If the answer to these questions is “no,” you should seriously rethink what you are doing in your business.

You are too slow!

Picture the scene in your head. A customer sends a query about the brushes of your new line of vacuum cleaners through email. Two weeks later, your sales department answers them with information about the characteristics of the brushes. The customer, a little tired of waiting, buys the product anyway, because the quality-price ratio of your product is fantastic and the explanations given by your sales representatives have been very complete.

After multiple calls, the vacuum cleaner arrives at their home nine weeks later. Two months after, it breaks down and the user contacts your customer service – which provides personalized attention with great kindness – to make use of the guarantee. Four weeks after that, a delivery agent picks it up at their address for repair.

Five months later, the vacuum cleaner has been repaired, so it is sent back to the customer. When the messenger knocks on the door, it turns out to be open. The agent looks down, and sees your client dead on the floor, covered by a layer of dust.

Does your company work poorly? Not in many respects; you have a good sales department team and a very attentive customer service, you fulfill your guarantees to perfection, and you give magnificent home delivery service, but your client has perished under a layer of dust. Slowness makes “good” become “terrible”. So, hurry up, chop chop!

Your image is not good and your brand is not strong

Nobody knows you, nobody talks about you, and those who do, aren’t saying very good things. Your products may be good, but something is not working. You may not have managed properly how to make yourself known (maybe the logo with a piggy eating chicken nuggets is not the best one for your dietetic product company, for example), or maybe the image that your company portrays isn’t the best – perhaps because of poor customer service -. Whatever the case is, the truth is that your brand does not convey confidence. Locate the problem and fix it.

Your services or products aren’t useful for the customer anymore

Have you not updated the software your company offers for 10 years? Remember that you should never stop putting yourself and your products up to date. If the services you offer to your customers have become obsolete, it is very likely that they will abandon you in favor of the competence.

You are having stock issues

You don’t have enough products to match your customers’ orders? You may have problems with suppliers, storage, inventory, etc. But the reality is that, whatever the inconvenience is, your customers spend weeks waiting for your products to finally reach their hands, so you better put a remedy to that, or remember, they will end up covered by a layer of dust…

By the way, Pandora ITSM comes with a built-in stock control tool. Do you want to know more?

Your price is too high

Do you sell pears at 25 $ a kilo? And you wonder why nobody makes an order?

It is not about you starting a price war with your competence, but about you correctly evaluating the relationship between the quality of your services, the price at which you are offering them and the current market prices.

You have issues with your orders

Did the 200 $ sneakers you sent to your customer who lives in the next village have ended up in a semi-abandoned island in Sri Lanka? You may have made some aboriginal very happy at that moment, but that has cost you 200 $ (you will have an entertaining mystery to solve and a good story for life, though).

No, but seriously, problems with orders can cause significant losses for your company, and they generate a bad image that you should avoid. Whether it is a customer service issue, or if it’s related to stock, transportation, or whatever, identify what is it that’s not working, and correct it.

Now that you know some of the reasons why your customers might abandon you, stop suffering. There are technological tools that can help you with some of these problems. Do you know about Pandora ITSM? In addition to its inventory tool, Pandora ITSM has many other features that can be of help to you. What are you waiting for?