Spending money on marketing whilst losing existing customers?

Many companies spend money on marketing. Sometimes millions of dollars. Whether this is spent on billboards, TV advertisements, print media, social media, SEO, SEM, or any other form of marketing, here are some things you need to consider:

1. Are you looking after these potential new customers who are directed to you for the first time?

2. Are you looking after the customers you already have?

The worst thing you can do is spend money to direct a customer to your business, and then not look after them. An extreme example is to place an advert on TV with a 1300 number to call, and then not have enough staff to answer the phone when the potential customers call you for the first time. It is hard to manage spikes in call volumes, but there are ways to mitigate call abandonment (customers hanging up whilst waiting in the queue). For example, you might roster a few more inbound voice agents on when you know the advert is going to be on TV, but you also might consider adding a call back feature to your phone system. For example, when a customer is waiting in the call queue, they are offered “press 9 to receive a call back when you reach the front of the queue”. Customers greatly appreciate this type of option.

Now while you are trying to look after new potential customers to ensure their first experience with your company is a good one, don’t forget to look after your existing (old) customers. It is a big mistake to be spending money on marketing to get new customers if you are frustrating existing customers with poor Customer Service, a convoluted returns process, or even lack of Account Management (for larger clients). It is much easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer happy than to win the business of a new customer and turn them into a repeat buyer. Satisfied customers are also a great source of positive advertising as they refer you to friends and family. The converse of this is an unhappy customer who rants on social media which might reach as many as 3,000 people. And what will these readers conclude……. “don’t shop with brand XYZ as they are not to be trusted”.