You're conducting a customer retention interview. What's the biggest mistake you could make?

1 Not preparing enough

When conducting a customer retention interview, the biggest mistake you could make is not preparing enough. This can lead to asking irrelevant or inappropriate questions, missing important insights, and frustrating your customer. To avoid this, it is essential to define the purpose and scope of your interview, researching your customer's profile and behavior, designing a good questionnaire, and setting the right expectations. When defining the purpose and scope of your interview, consider what you want to learn from your customer, how you will use the feedback to improve your product or service, how long it will take, and what format (phone, video, email, etc.) you will use. Researching your customer's profile should include their demographics, preferences, pain points and goals. Additionally, you should research how they use your product or service and how satisfied they are with it. Designing a good questionnaire should involve using open-ended questions that encourage your customer to share their opinions and experiences. Prioritize the most important questions and group them into logical categories. Lastly, set the right expectations with your customer before the interview by explaining the purpose and value of the interview, how long it will take, and how you will use their feedback. Make sure to ask for their consent and availability as well as confirm the date, time and format of the interview. Thank them for their participation and assure them of their confidentiality.

3 Not following up enough

The last mistake you could make when conducting a customer retention interview is not following up enough. This can lead to wasted time and effort, lost customer loyalty and trust, and missed opportunities to improve your product or service. To avoid this mistake, you should always analyze and act on the customer's feedback; review your notes and compare the feedback with other sources of data, then prioritize and implement the most relevant actions. Additionally, share your findings and actions with your team and stakeholders; using visual aids to illustrate your findings and highlight the benefits of the customer retention interview. Finally, thank and update your customer; send a thank-you note after the interview summarizing the conversation, then update them on the progress of your actions. Showing that you care about their experience and that you are actively listening to their feedback is essential.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?