How small frictions undermine customer retention

Most businesses do not lose customers because of one big mistake, instead they lose them one interaction at a time.

I have been reminded of that over the past few weeks while trying to resolve a problem with a TV company that I have been a customer with for over 25 years. It should have been simple. Instead, every step left me wondering whether anybody had stopped to ask what the customer was trying to achieve.

The monthly price had increased again. Fair enough, costs rise. Customers understand that. What they (WHAT I) struggle with is paying more while receiving the same service we had years ago. Scratch that – a WORSE service.

Then there were the little things.

I was still paying extra for HD television, a feature introduced almost twenty years ago. A chatbot sent me around in circles before I waited 45 minutes to speak to somebody. A complaint took almost a month to receive a response. And it only had a response when i chased (oh and I also speak to four different departments on route).  When I considered leaving, the “best” offer cost more than the package I already had. Equipment failed more than once. An engineer arrived, looked at the problem and suggested installing more technology rather than fixing the issue. He also blamed by broadband (which it was not).

None of those moments were disastrous on their own.

Together, they cemented how I felt about the business. And how I didnt need them anymore.

That is the part many organisations miss.

Customers rarely walk away after one poor experience. They leave after a series of small frustrations. Each one chips away at the trust you’ve spent years building.

The difficult part is that every decision probably looked sensible inside the business.

Reduce support costs. Increase average revenue per customer. Move more enquiries to self-service. Shorten engineer visits.

Each decision improves a report somewhere. Each decision looks like progress. Each choice impacts a bottom line number.

But I, the customer, sees something different.

We see longer waits, higher prices and more effort. We begin to feel like another account number instead of somebody who’s supported the business for years.

All this whilst the market has changed around them.  Just like it did for Blockbuster.  And Kodak.  And many others.

Customers no longer compare you with your closest competitor. They compare you with the best experience they have had this week.

If ordering from Amazon takes seconds, streaming a film is effortless and banking happens with a tap, those experiences become the standard. Every business gets measured against them, whatever industry you are in.

That is why customer service no longer sits with the contact centre.

Pricing is customer service.

Product design is customer service.

Billing is customer service.

Technology is customer service.

Every decision either makes life easier for your customer or a little harder.

As leaders, we spend a lot of time asking how to win new customers.

A better question is this.

How easy is it to stay with your business?

The answer to that question tells you far more about your future than any sales forecast ever will.

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