Why Customers Won’t Tell You They’re Unhappy

Maybe this has happened to you. You are dining at a restaurant and things are just not going well. Your server took ten minutes to greet your table, the kitchen ran out of your favorite dish, and the meal you ordered was lukewarm and mediocre at best. When your bill comes and your card is run, you nevertheless tip the requisite 20%. Then you leave the establishment, never to return again. The fact is, many customers will never complain about the lackluster service they receive, and instead choose to opt out and take their business elsewhere. And we are not just talking about the hospitality industry here. Dissatisfied customers of both B2C and B2B companies – and in virtually every sector – silently cut ties with businesses they once valued every day. This quiet customer churn can be incredibly frustrating for business owners, leaving them blindsided and wondering what went wrong.

The answer to that question usually boils down to a number of common reasons:

1. They Don’t Want to Make a Big Deal Out of It

Take our hypothetical restaurant experience. You were not overly bothered by the delayed service and you’ve eaten worse food. No need to cause a fuss or talk with a manager. In your mind you think that they must be aware of their own poor service issues. So rather than experience the awkwardness of complaining or confrontation, you just quietly leave dissatisfied.

2. They Don’t Think Their Voice Matters

Customers often feel that their negative experience with a business isn’t deemed important by those who could actually do something about it. They rationalize that leadership or management must know that they are falling short in these areas, so what is their complaint or opinion going to do to change that?

3. They Just Don’t Care Enough

Sadly, many customers who experience a negative transaction are already ambivalent about your business. They simply have no emotional connection to your brand. This is a tough one, because it speaks more to the long-term customer experience you are delivering than a single bad encounter.

4. They Are Stressed

A profoundly unhappy customer often experiences a strong emotional response. While you might expect these people to complain loudly, sometimes those who are overwhelmed with negative feelings simply shut down and walk away. It’s a fight or flight situation, and they simply choose the latter.

5. They Don’t Want to Hurt Your Feelings

Dissatisfied customers sometimes don’t speak up because they feel like their unhappiness is a betrayal of your established relationship or their loyalty. They might even absolve you and your business of any responsibility while they quietly look for alternatives that better suit their needs.

They Are Gone, Now What?

Of course, there are a myriad of reasons why your customers might silently turn their backs on your business. But almost universally, the telltales of dissatisfaction were there if you were paying attention.

Let’s be frank. The odds of resuscitating a former customer are not great. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find value from understanding the reasons why they left, learning from their negative interactions with your company, and then using that insight to improve customer experience moving forward.

Reach out to those once-loyal customers who you lost. Ask them about their entire experience with your business. What they liked. What went wrong. What they would have you do differently. Don’t approach this feedback as a sales tool to get those lost customers back, but rather an opportunity to fix what’s broken or maybe just needs some tweaking.

And who knows? Maybe when they see how much you value their opinion and are committed to improvement, those lost customers just might come back around.