It’s not about you—it’s about them. Well, more accurately, when someone walks away from your business, it’s all about their customer experience. The worst thing you can do is to take it personally (easy to say, right?). This should help: focus on how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future, with our advice from Growth Tactic #93 of your 100-Day Digital Growth Plan, When Customers Leave—Learn from an Exit Interview.
OVERVIEW–When Customers Leave–Learn from an Exit Interview
Repeating the same mistakes usually gets you, what? If you answered “the same outcome,” you get a gold star! And, you get the benefit of learning from your mistakes. Often, unhappy customers simply walk away, quietly, anonymously, without letting you know where things went wrong. Now, you can use these tools to conduct simple, non-intrusive exit interviews. Get better insights into the customer experience so you can objectively analyze your business weaknesses. You’ll be in a better position to head off similar problems before they can happen again.
HOW-TO
STEP ONE: Apply a little armchair psychology, put yourself in the customer’s place, and think about the questions you’d most like to ask someone who’s ready to leave the fold. You may have an instinctive sense of your business or product’s possible failings, and you’ve probably heard some negative feedback in the past that will help you frame questions. Start making a list of the things you’d really like to know.
STEP TWO: Choose a survey tool to conduct online exit interviews, being careful to place minimal demands on your customers. Be sure to set up thorough response tracking—ease of use and trackability should be key criteria for choosing your survey tool.
STEP THREE: Make sure your staff are thoroughly trained to carefully handle an unhappy customer, and are ready to ask for a moment of time to fill out a quick exit interview form. Your survey should be ready to go at that moment. When you’ve collected results, determine ways to address any recurring or unexpected problems.
RESOURCES AND TOOLS
- Google Forms (easy to adapt forms for all uses)
- Qualaroo (targeted website surveys)
- 5 Revealing Questions to Ask a Client Who’s Leaving You
- Questions You Should Ask Your Customers in an Exit Interview
We’re committed to providing a deep source of information and education for our community. Find more resources in our Learn page and visit us here again for the next 100-Day Digital Growth Plan Tactic! Then, contact us for more ideas on digital growth and your website.