How to Handle Customers Switching to Competitors Brand

ErahomoI
ErahomoI
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

When the subscribers from a telecom company complained about poor internet services from their service provider, not many believed it will have an effect on the company, but when the regulators released the subscriber base stats’ for the quarter, the service provider lost a percentage of its’ subscribers to other competitors.

In business, Customers switching involves ditching a product or brand for that of competitors. There are many reasons for that, but failure to manage expectations promptly is a fundamental factor. Entrepreneurs want to gain more customers to keep the business growing. The harmful effects of losing customers to competitors are devastating. Prospecting for customers involves cost, and no business wants to lose a customer after investing time and resources in them. To maintain an existing customer is easier than attracting a new one.

Consumers’ switching from one brand to another is common in business. Their reason could be dissatisfaction, poor customer relationship, product or service failure, etc. No business can stop customers from switching if they wish to, but you can manage their complaint behaviour. You can identify the factors influencing complaints in customers and resolve them before it escalates. You don’t have to wait for things to get worse, you can always nip it in the bud. Some of the ways you can resolve customers switching from your brand to that of competitors include:

1. Make your satisfied customers your brand ambassadors. Customers trust the unpaid opinions of your satisfied customers over your paid advertorial. Get your satisfied customers to share their experiences and to genuinely express what triggers them about your brand. This may give complaining customers a shift in perception about your brand. Complaining customers may just need an alternative view about your brand to change their mind. Do not allow dissatisfied customers do this for you. In the example cited earlier, I never knew the telecom internet service was slow; peoples’ complaints pointed it to me.

2. Have an open and honest interaction with customers. Nothing triggers a customer’s loyalty like being transparent with them. Don’t play around with your customers, you can’t satisfy them all the time, but they want to see your efforts at satisfying them. If your product will not match their expectations, inform them. That way, you build trust. Be more transparent with customers.

3. Study complaints’ triggers and pattern. It is not difficult to see patterns and triggers in your customers’ complaints. If you invest time in customer relationship, you can spot them easily. Some complaints may be triggered by inconvenience, core service failure, service encounter failures, response to service failures etc and each of them has a level of disappointment it creates in customers. For some, it is the start of a process to switch, for others, the decision happens almost immediately. When you identify a pattern of complaints, their effect on your business and their triggers, it helps you minimize the damage customer switching.

4. Interact and engage more with your customers. You can quell the effect of most negative experiences if you engage more and interact with the customers. When you engage more with customers, you can identify traces of complaints.

5. To make it difficult to switch brands, offer superior benefits. Entrepreneurs can make switching slightly difficult for consumers when they offer a superior valued benefit than other competitors. Superior value benefit makes customers hesitant about switching from your brand. It may not guarantee you loyalty, but it buys you enough time to respond to customer complaints.

Finally, switching behaviour is not an event, and it does not happen in isolation. Entrepreneurs identify negative service or product experiences that may likely lead to complaining and eventual switching if not handled promptly.

service or p�75�

ErahomoI

Written by

ErahomoI

Knowledge | Think | Create | Innovate Business and Good Governance My opinion can be biased

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade