5 Things Guaranteed To Annoy Customers

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Being able to keep customers happy should be at the heart of every business. For all the benefits you can reap from a solid marketing strategy or new innovations in how your business runs, without customers, it’s all irrelevant. Once you have managed to capture a customer, it should be at the forefront of your mind: how do I keep this customer happy? If this isn’t among the top of your priorities, then it’s time for a reorganisation.

Frequently, the best way to keep a customer happy is just to prevent them from becoming annoyed. There are many things that a business can do that will irritate a customer to the point of no longer wishing to use that company, but these are the top five - and there’s a few ideas on how to avoid them as well…

1) Poor Communication

If something goes wrong with an order, a customer wants to know about it. If you don’t inform them of the issue the moment you become aware of it, then they will be - rightfully - annoyed. Customers can understand that things go wrong, but they need to be kept in the loop about how you’re going to rectify it.

2) Bombard Them With Spam

You’ve probably read more than a few articles on the importance of email marketing. Done well, it can entice customers back to your company when they might otherwise have forgotten about you. But done badly, email marketing is nothing more than an intense irritant. Even if they’re the best emails in the world, no customer is going to want to hear from you more than once per week.

3) Being Passed From Person To Person

If a customer has reason to call you, then they will quickly become annoyed if they are frequently transferred endlessly. In an age of business phone systems, it’s far too easy for employees just to pass calls on rather than deal with it themselves. Try and keep a handle on this and instil a policy that whoever answers the call has to follow it through to a resolution. Even if this means conferring with another department to fully resolve it, customers will appreciate a proactive approach.

4) Having To Login To Checkout

If you sell products through your own website, then you could be selling yourself short if you require customers to create and/or login an account before they can checkout. Customers want a smooth, easy checkout process; they don’t want to have to fill out details their payment processor provides anyway. While you might like people to create accounts as it makes them easier to track, always include a guest checkout option - not doing so could lose you sales.

5) Being Spoken Down To

Finally, a habit that many employees (and perhaps yourself) can fall into far too easily. If you talk down to customers or make them feel stupid, then they are going to revolt against you. If trying to resolve an issue, never ask questions like “do you know how to do that?”. Instead, a simple change to “are you familiar with?” sounds far more adult, and will be easier for them to say no to if that’s the case. Always presume knowledge and only fill in gaps when asked.