6 Assumptions That Are Hurting Your Customer Acquisition
In order to survive in business, you need customers. How you get your customers – and how long you keep them – can directly determine your profitability. While it seems to be pretty straight forward, customer acquisition isn’t that simple. Especially not with all of the assumptions, myths and wrong pathways that businesses sometimes take to get there. Here are six of those assumptions that could be hurting your customer acquisition efforts:
Assumption #1: Our Price is Unbeatable
Pricing is tricky. In fact, it’s part science and part art. Your pricing matters but your customers could care less if you don’t create a good customer experience. According to Barry Levine of CMSWire, who alludes to research from Forrester, customer experience is the ultimate factor when it comes to customer loyalty.
Plus, you do know that there’s a customer for every price point, don’t you?
Assumption #2: We Have an Awesome Product/Service
Sure, you do. But that isn’t enough.
Circa 2015 customers seem to be more concerned about the customer service quality than product quality. According to the American Marketing Association, which cites the latest findings from CMO Survey, 23% of customers reported customer service as a top priority compared to 22% who pointed to superior product quality and only 15% of customers indicated that lower pricing wins.
Assumption #3: Unhappy? So what?
Just what do you think is the cost of “unhappy customers”? Wait for it. It’s a staggering $537 billion per year, in cold, unhappy cash, according to a 2013 Global Pulse Survey. But, in addition to losing an unhappy customer’s business, you risk losing other potential customer’s as well.
Unhappy customers are 3X more likely to tell their friends and everyone else they know about a negative experience. In fact, a single unhappy customer was the result that United Airlines lost 10% in share value costing it a whopping $180 million.
Assumption #4: You Built It, So They’ll Come
Think about it: customers today have choices. They have way too many options. You screw up one time, you don’t respond to their social comments, and you don’t respond to that support ticket on time and you’ve lost that customer for sure.
If you build it, they’ll consider it. They’ll hear about it. They’ll want to check you out. Hell, they’ll even buy once or twice. Get it wrong, and you are history.
[Tweet “Are you making any of these assumptions that are hurting your #customer acquisition? #entrepreneur”]Assumption #5: Your Customers Don’t Care
Oh, they do. They do so much that a happy customer is a direct opportunity for businesses. For instance, hotel and wireless businesses that strive to improve their customer experience scores exceed $1 billion in aggregate revenue, according to an infographic from Vision Critical.
When you do well, when you go out of your way, and when you strive for excellent customer service. They more than care; they put cash on the table for you.
Assumption #6: It’s Expensive to Manage Customers
Thanks to the technological advances, the rise of cloud computing, and the availability of so many customer service tools available, it’s easier than ever to manage your customer service workflow. With inexpensive tools like Mailflo.io ZenDesk, and HelpScout, you have no more excuses to manage customer support better.
What kinds of customer service assumptions are costing you money? Tell us about it.
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