Suze Bragg

6 ways to lose customers

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As a retailer, the last thing you want is to lose customers. Without realizing it, you may already be losing them. Are you doing any the following?

1. Lack of product knowledge
   • When a customer asks a question, are they met with a blank stare, lots of information, or a "let me find out and get back to you". This experience can determine whether someone will buy from you or whether they'll go somewhere else. The more your staff knows your merchandise and how it can relate to the current situation (birthday gift for a wife, the perfect piece of furniture for the entryway, etc.), the easier the sale will be.
2. Poor store or web site experience
   • If the lights are too bright, the bathrooms are dirty, the dressing rooms are cluttered, and the store has too many handmade signs (or signs that look unprofessional), chances are the shopping experience is not one people want to repeat. The same goes for your web site. If it's hard to navigate, the site doesn't reflect your brand, and it's not a site they want to bookmark, you may have lost them online.
3. Bad content on the web site and in the store
   • Out-of-date content, old pricing, old signage, old merchandise...these are all things that keep the experience from being a great one.
4. Not knowing your competition
   • Squeeze in an hour (or have someone close to your squeeze in more than that) to find out what your competition is doing, how well they're doing it, and how you can do it better.
5. Wrong product pricing
   • Are you too expensive and not competitive?
6. Terrible customer service
   • People will tell others, who tell their friends, who tell their grandmothers... don't let this happen to you.

Posted by Suze Bragg on September 23, 2008 | Comments (0)