Why Customers Are Leaving Your Business In 2023
by Hannah Jones
Personal Assistant & Marketing Coordinator
The Customer Experience Advantage
Just four years ago, David Avrin released his book Why Customers Leave (And How to Win Them Back). He didn't immediately realize that he would stumble on a smash success, but the book ended up being named one of Forbes Top 10 Books Of 2019 and translated into 5 languages. Years later, conference attendees still line up for its differentiating element; customer experience from the perspective, not of a business, but of the customer.
Why Do Customers Leave?
“Can I get a small cup or water please?” I say to the young woman behind the counter at the pretzel place located in the large convention hotel where I am speaking this week. I had just purchased a pretzel and added that I needed water to take some medicine.
“Uh, we don’t sell water,” she says. “All we have is tap water, she notes,” pointing over her shoulder to the sink right behind her.
“That works for me,” I say. But just as she turns around, her manager stops her and she says to me, “No, we can’t give you water. Sorry.”
“It’s just a small cup,” I say. I need to take some medicine.
“Sorry,” she repeats rather dismissively. “Can’t do it. But there is a Starbucks next door, and you can buy water there.” She then moves to the side and starts wiping down the counter, no longer making eye contact with me.
(. . .)
What has happened to civility and basic human kindness? To be clear, this was in a resort hotel. They weren’t having to deal with vagrants, or busy with a line of customers waiting. For all of us in and out of business, opportunities exist at every turn to do the right thing or simply the kind thing. Whether offering a simple cup of water or denying the use of a restroom to a person in need, too many decline to show humanity. We can do better. Tell your employees that you expect them to do well, but also to do good."
David Avrin - "Basic Human Kindness"
Today it is so easy to focus on making the customer experience more efficient, because it is the one thing that both our customers and our shareholders prefer. If we can orchestrate the customer journey, create predictability in the buying process, we should see measurable results. Here's the problem: your customers aren't all the same. And forcing them all to interact with a narrow formula of predetermined customer outcomes is frustrating, and often downright unkind, as is the case above.
Your employees are people and not robots for a reason; they need to be empowered to make decisions responding the the wide array of scenarios that could arise for your consumer population. Efficiency is what we try to maximize after all of our more fundamental bases are covered; such as humanity and kindness.
So, why are customers leaving in 2023? Because they have been isolated by your "efficiencies" and left helpless by your technology.
It was announced this week that Frontier Airlines would discontinue its customer support help-line opting instead to offer only digital options i.e: No option for a conversation with a real person over the phone. None. The bean-counters at Frontier might be feeling good, but leadership made the inexcusable error of not understanding the business they are in.
Frontier thinks they are selling seats, when in fact, they are selling outcomes. They are selling the reunion at the end of the flight, the crucial business meeting that will close an important sale, a long-delayed family vacation or even a funeral for a recently deceased loved one. When we buy a seat on a flight, we are trusting (betting) that we will make the personal or business we desire. Any uncertainty about successfully arriving makes that purchase very risky.
David Avrin - "What Frontier Airlines Just Got Very, Very Wrong"
David is a huge advocate for staying up-to-date with the technological advancements of your field. That is a given, necessary step to be competitive in today's marketplace. However, the trouble comes when those technological advancements are used to replace human capital that they are no competition for.
Just the other day, during a stressful move, I was interacting with a brilliant, innovative app called Fluid, which facilitates peer to peer truck and van hourly rentals. The night before I had a pickup scheduled for large items, the app (which I've used many times in the past) somehow unapproved my driver's license (which had previously been approved), and stalled the new reservation I was trying to make. I called the support number, expecting that there was no way a small company would have someone available this late, and assuming I would be forced to send an email out into the void or talk to their "very sophisticated" chat bot.
I was floored to immediately connect with an employee who was not only available, but recognized exactly what had been happening because she had just tried to get in contact with me about my reservation. Within half an hour, my reservation was confirmed, and I was able to go to sleep knowing my move would go alright the next day.
What struck me was how shocked I was to receive the basic, most fundamental level of customer care. I had become so accustomed (as a budget-conscious, younger consumer) to "budget-friendly" services that completely broke down the second any one element went wrong. When offered the opportunity to speak with a real person during a stressful time, I knew I would be a customer for life.
This is a huge opportunity in business today. Where industry leaders are cutting corners, customers are leaving. Where technology is being used to isolate customers and force them down narrow pathways, customers are leaving. Where human capital is being used efficiently and basic kindness is prioritized, that is your opportunity for competitive advantage.