You wouldn’t happen to be filling a Laundry Bucket, would you?
Every entrepreneur lives with a sacrosanct obsession: acquiring new customers. It is the engine of growth, the signal that the market is responding. We spend hours and budgets creating campaigns, optimising advertising, generating leads… basically, continually pouring new water into our company’s bucket.
But there is one question that, unfortunately, few people ask: what if the bucket is leaking?
You can pour all the water you want, but if the bottom leaks, the level will never rise. Those holes are the customers who, after the first purchase, leave and never come back. And the process to plug those holes is called Customer Retention. Oh, and don’t forget that you probably paid those customers with marketing fees.
Ignoring this problem is one of the most expensive mistakes a company can make. Because acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing one. Today, let’s look together at the 5 most common mistakes that turn your efforts into a bucket of holes and, most importantly, let’s see how to plug these holes once and for all.
Mistake No. 1. Disappearing After the Sale
This is the capital sin, the most widespread and the most damaging. The customer completes the purchase, gives you his money, and you … disappear. Total silence. No thank you email, no follow-up, no communication in which you make yourself available for after-sales, nothing.
The Problem: The customer feels used. His perception is that you were just a transaction, a number that, all in all, was useful for making the month’s turnover. You cashed out and left. This mediocre post-purchase experience almost completely nullifies the chances of him coming back to buy from you or turning an occasional customer into one who starts to speak well of you and becomes attached to your company, your brand and your products.
The Solution: The relationship starts after the sale. You need to create a simple but effective post-purchase communication flow:
- Immediate thank-you email: Simple, human, making him feel appreciated.
- Onboarding: If the product is complex, send a guide, video tutorial or advice on how to get the most out of it. Or at least make yourself available with a sentence like ‘if you need us, don’t hesitate to contact us, we are at your disposal’.
- Ask for feedback: After a week or two, ask him how he is getting on, ask him if you can help him in any other way. Show him that you have taken his needs to heart….
Mistake number 2. They are “all the same”: Creating generic and impersonal communication
The customer has bought a dog product from you. A week later, you send him a newsletter with a special offer on cat food. Or worse, you keep sending him advertisements for the same product he just bought.
The Problem: What are you communicating to him? That you are not setting yourself the problem of solving one of his problems or satisfying one of his needs. You are telling him: ‘I don’t know who you are and I don’t care’. You are sending him spam that will (rightly) be trashed, which will make you perceive yourself as ‘the one who sends me stuff I don’t care about’. Such communication is harmful. It annoys the customer, leads him to unsubscribe from the newsletter you have worked so hard to get him to subscribe to, and to perceive you and your brand as something careless, annoying, and pressurising. It’s spam, there’s no getting around it.
The Solution: Use the data you have! Your CRM is your best friend.
- Segment customers: Divide them into logical groups (new customers, loyal customers, inactive customers, by type of product purchased, etc.).
- Customise messages: Send offers based on previous purchases. Use his name. Make him feel that you are talking to him, not to an indistinct mass.
Mistake 3. Sticking your head in the sand: Ignoring feedback (especially negative feedback)
A customer complains on social media or leaves a 1-star review. The temptation to bury your head in the sand, delete the comment or, worse, ignore it, is strong. But it is the wrong thing to do. Keep in mind that normally companies PAY for feedback, and what do you do? ignore it? you’re crazy!
The Problem: A customer who complains is giving you a huge gift. First, he is giving you a chance to rectify and turn a negative experience into a positive one. Second, he is pointing you to a weakness in your business that, if fixed, will improve the experience for everyone else. To ignore it is to lose him, everyone who will read his complaint, and the opportunity to improve.
The Solution: Proactively encourage and manage feedback.
- Actively ask for feedback: Send satisfaction surveys, invite reviews.
- Reply to ALL: Say thank you for positive feedback. For negative ones, reply publicly (if the channel is), apologise for the inconvenience and offer to solve the problem privately. Showing that you can handle criticism is a powerful signal of trust.
Mistake 4. Taking everything for granted: Not rewarding loyalty
I put it on the line that 90% of you have been customers of the same telephone company for years. And for years there have been unilaterally adjusted contracts that drive up your monthly cost.
And then there are the unbelievable offers that only apply to new subscribers, so much so that when you go to the shops they advise you to ‘get out and get back in’.
The customer rightly wonders: ‘what? I’ve been a loyal customer of yours for years and you treat me badly, and then you roll out the red carpet to someone you don’t even know? (this is followed by abuse and insults to living, dead and unborn relatives)’.
The Problem: Your loyal customers are your greatest asset (do you know the concept of customer lifetime value?). Taking them for granted is a strategic mistake. Feeling less important than a newcomer generates frustration and prompts them to look around. Loyalty should be cultivated, not demanded.
The Solution: Recognise and reward your best customers.
- Create a simple loyalty programme: No need for complex systems. Just exclusive discounts, early access to new products, a small surprise gift or free shipping.
- Communicate their status: Let them know they are important. An email saying ‘Thank you for being one of our best customers, here’s a gift for you’ can be something really appreciated.
Error number five. The labyrinth: slow and frustrating customer service
Or, as I call it, ‘the wonderful world of the Internal Revenue Service’. The customer has a problem, in order to contact you he has to navigate through an incomprehensible site, fill in a form with 20 fields, wait 3 days for an email reply that solves nothing, or spend 30 minutes on hold on the phone and talk to a person who has no desire or time to help you.
The Problem: Poor customer service can turn a small hiccup into a reason to never buy from you again and even badmouth you around. If getting help is a frustrating experience, the customer will associate that frustration with your brand.
The Solution: Make your customer service a strength.
- Be easy to reach: Make your contacts clear (email, phone, chat).
- Be fast: Use help desk tools to handle requests neatly and quickly. Set response standards.
- Be decisive: Give your team the power to really solve problems at first contact, without having to bounce the customer between different offices.
So? So stop throwing in the water and start plugging the holes
Customer retention is not a side activity to be done when you have time left over. It is something you should put BEFORE lead generation. It is work that lays a solid foundation and makes everything that comes after stable and profitable. Each of the mistakes I have listed is a hole in your bucket. Plugging them means you stop wasting money spent on acquisition and start building a capital of loyal customers that will fuel your growth over time.
So, rather than asking yourself “how do I find the next customer?”, start asking yourself “how do I make sure that the customer I just found wants to stay with me forever?”. And the answer to this question you can be sure will make the difference between a company that is staggering and one that has a solid foundation.
