The Silent Customer Churn
I am rushing back from work, trying to make it back in time before my kids' childcare closes. I am starving, with just enough time for a quick detour to get the takeout that I am craving from food outlet 'X'.
The biggest problem - they ONLY accept cash. I have only $10 in my wallet, and have no time to go to the ATM for more cash.
Being a mother, I defy the furious rumblings of my own tummy, and buy the only item that I can afford with the $10 in my wallet for my kids.
For whatever reason (whether to save on transaction fees, operational constraints, etc.), 'X' has chosen not to provide any form of cashless payment options for customers, although many others now do.
The customer in front of me only realised after she placed her order, and had to scoot away empty handed and embarrassed that she had insufficient cash. I would have ordered $20 worth of food, but only ordered $10 worth instead.
2 customers were lost in less than 5 minutes. It makes one wonder how much potential revenue 'X' has lost through
- a lack of understanding of customers' unspoken needs
- a lack of insight into customers' evolving behaviours
- operational challenges getting in the way of meeting customers needs
- an unfavourable company-customer effort ratio
In any customer journey, the obvious pain points, where complaints are received, are relatively easier to fix. However, how do we uncover the pain points where no one complains, but instead silently modifies their behaviours?
The right mix of customer insights tools, together with operational data, need to be expertly deployed to uncover the conscious, subconscious, spoken, and unspoken needs of customers.
The danger of not doing so is losing customers who simply modify their behaviours and bring their business elsewhere, without ever telling you, and without you ever finding out why.
Good writing. There is someone who can fire anyone, including the CEO, in a organisation. That "someone" is the customer. Sadly, not all organisations recognise that.
Founder @ FunnelCycle | CRM & Lead Gen for Agencies & B2B to Build a Predictable Account-Based Pipeline
5 å¹´Thanks for sharing this. Quite instructive to think of customer churn that way. I suspect a lot of silent churn also occurs not because of one obvious issue like in your case, but out of sheer indifference. I'm thinking of the last half dozen retail stores I have bought something. They don't know who I am, no system to find out or track, and no way to market to me so that I go back again. I can't quite remember what some of these stores are so our paths are unlikely to cross again. Churn happens.
Insights | Culture | People
5 å¹´Quite agree with this. It would be interesting to apply the same principle to an online channel, where customers don't add their wishlist to the cart and/or don't checkout their carts.?