Encourage Customer Loyalty By Understanding What Pushes Them Away

Business owners spend much of their time searching for the best ways to attract and keep customers. Equally valuable lessons can be learned from recognizing what drives customers away.

Here are four areas where customer loyalty can be challenged enough to cause customers to turn to another company.

1. Someone else offers a better price. The nature of business competition means that customers will always be on the lookout for a better price and that someone will eventually be there to provide the same types of products and services for a lower rate. Maintain customer loyalty by providing customized products and services that customers won’t be able to find anywhere else. For example, a paint supplier could easily be undercut by another retailer, hardware store or home improvement super center. A smaller store can make its mark and retain customer loyalty through the services it provides, such as custom color matching, on-site evaluations and painting contractor services.
2. Service is poor. When your customer service isn’t up to par, your customers will feel like you’ve abandoned them when they need you most. Keeping your customers happy should be a top priority and should never be minimized or assigned a lower priority. It only takes one bad experience to drive a client away from your business for good. Happy customers mean more customers, which equals higher profits.
3. Product quality has slipped. Customers who’ve purchased from you and return know what they’re expecting, so if the quality of your products has decreased, they’ll be aware of it. Maintain consistent standards with your offerings to keep customers coming back.
4. Customers need something else. You can’t control when customer needs shift, but you can maintain meaningful communication with your customers to ensure you’re ready to respond when they require something different. Use what you know about your customers and your industry to make predictions about how customer needs will evolve.

Are you committing any of these errors that drive customers away? What could you do to improve customer loyalty and retention?