Broken Promises... What happens when a business promises and doesn't deliver.

Last summer I started using a new grocery delivery company, as they claimed to deliver food to my door in just 10 minutes! - I'll call them 'Food Company'.

Very convenient since I didn't always have time to go to the supermarket just to buy a few ingredients.

I found out about this service through a friend who gave me a discount code, so I decided to try it out.

My first order arrived in exactly 10 minutes - wow, I was so pleased with the service!

However, my satisfaction was short-lived. The next four times I ordered from 'Food Company', my groceries took much longer to arrive, once nearly an hour. This made me grow impatient and unhappy since I was relying on the food to get to me quickly.

As a result, I stopped using 'Food Company' and switched to a more reliable company for my groceries.

Why did 'Food Company' lose me as a customer?

They made a promise that they could not keep!

In 2022, around 41% of customers here in the UK said that companies which they have made business with have broken several promises, and believe that these companies are often not aware that this is happening.?

While most companies make promises in good faith to convince customers to do business with them in the long term, many don’t realise that the promises they make are what customers will set their expectations on, and failing to commit and deliver on those promises will send customers away straight into the arms of the competition.

To avoid breaking promises and retaining more customers, here are three tips to help your company:

1. Make realistic promises that you can keep. It is the marketing department’s job to set customer expectations accurately, still at times what they promote and promise is not what the operations department can realistically deliver. Therefore, take time to consider what you're promising and what the implications of those promises could be.
2. Be clear and specific with your promises. You need to know precisely what you're promising, and it's essential that there is no room for assumptions on the customer's side. For instance, if you promise to deliver goods between 3 to 5 days, customers will not hear "5 days," but they'll set their expectations on "3 days" and be disappointed if it takes longer to receive their order. It's much better to say that the goods will be delivered within 5 days.
3. Communicate promptly. There will be times when something goes wrong, and you can't keep a promise. But if those situations are managed correctly, the affected customers won't even perceive it as a broken promise, as long as you communicate with them. As soon as you know there is a problem or a potential problem, let your customers know. Your honesty will be appreciated, and you won't let them down.

Take a moment to consider the promises your company has made to its customers. Are you keeping them all?

You can now follow these three tips to make promises you can keep.

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