Ghost-Proof Your Business

We’ve all done it — we’ve all ghosted a business. It’s those times you’ve walked in a store or cafe, been ignored by staff and then just quietly walked out. Or, it’s when you’ve been underwhelmed by a product, pissed off by their crappy customer service, but instead of complaining, you simply decide…

“…they just lost my business — for life; assholes.”

Of course, this also means that potential customers are ghosting you too. Maybe you took too long to respond to an email, maybe your packaging looked too amateur, maybe your hours were inconvenient — since these ghosts never became customers it can be tricky getting definitive details on why they chose not to become a customer.

Become a Ghostbuster

So how do you minimize ghosting? It’s vital to view your business from an outside perspective to discover the pain points that may be losing you business.

To get started, map how people interact with your business in four key spaces:

Physical Spaces — these are your retail spaces, real brick and mortar spaces that you control. Brand interactions can include storefront signage, product displays, the quality of customer service from staff, and the speed and experience of purchasing at the checkout. Every interaction will impact your customers’ perception of your brand.

Virtual Spaces — these are your online spaces that you manage, typically websites, emails and apps. Brand interactions here include speed of the site, quality of photography, tone of your copywriting, frequency of emails or ease of navigation. Again, every interaction will impact your customers’ perception of your brand.

Social Spaces — these are spaces were interactions with your brand are in a group or public setting, think social media, presentations, exhibitions. Brand interactions include social media posts, the design of your expo booth, the style of your slideshows. And yep, you guessed it, every interaction will impact your customers’ perception of your brand.

Shared Spaces — these are spaces controlled by partners and allies, where you still have a brand presence. This can include retail shelves in a dispensary, media coverage on a local TV channel, a listing in a business directory or an ad in a publication. In this space, the perception of your brand can be impacted by the those partners and third parties too.

The goal here is to understand what people are seeking to do in each space and what current roadblocks exist in your business that are getting in there way — fix the issues=less ghosting.