We often read articles that show how companies are looking to win the heart of their companies. The whole startup ecosystem in rising only because of the problems they are solving for the consumers. This gives us a statement that customer is the king and without them, no company can survive in the market. Today we are sharing an answer we saw on Quora that explains perfectly how do most companies lose customers. Read it carefully.
Written by Rana Ashish, Programmer, Software Engineer
Let me explain it with a simple incident,
It was 10:20 pm when I reached home. Then I came to know that our cook (who daily prepares dinner for us) had ditched. I decided to order food online.
Exactly at 10:32 pm, I placed my order via “FoodPanda”. It was showing that the order will be delivered in 25 minutes.
I was too hungry because as usual, I skipped my lunch that day, and patiently started waiting for the food to get delivered.
After 1 hour at 11:35 pm, I received a call.
He: Hello, Are you Ashish?
Me: Yes, It’s me.
He: Sir we cannot deliver your food. We don’t deliver food after 11 pm.
Me: What? But I placed order at 10:30 pm.
He: Sir, I already logged off and if you want your food then you will have to come till half the distance.
Me: I was like, What the fuck? You are taking delivery fees and still, you want me to travel half the distance.
He: Sorry Sir, do one thing. Cancel your order and you will get a complete refund.
(And this is where I started losing my mind).
Me: I am waiting for 1 hour and now you are asking me to cancel that order. Where will I get food at this wee hour?
And without replying he disconnected my call. I was hungry, and angry as well. When I logged in to the Foodpanda App, I saw that the food is already delivered. Now I couldn’t cancel it.
I was agitated, hungry, angry, frustrated and stressed. I contacted their customer care, where their responses were slower than the IRCTC website. They made sure that I will get refund, but I told them that I don’t want refund, I want food.
For which obviously they refused and told me that the money will be refunded in next 3 working days.
I immediately uninstalled “FoodPanda” app. And this is how they lost one regular customer. I logged in to Swiggy, my food got delivered at 1:30 am.
And this is how Swiggy earned one more customer.
Now let’s summarize, how do companies lose customer:
Don’t meet Deadline
This is an important factor for any company to deliver quality within promised deadline. FoodPanda failed to deliver food in 25 minutes. If you can’t meet the deadline, then don’t promise customer about the deadline.
If you create an expectation, then you must fulfill it.
Commitment towards customer
If that delivery guy wanted to deliver, he could have delivered it. His lack of commitment towards his work resulted in the loss of one regular customer.
Like Big Billion day launched by Flipkart, most of the times it is a flop show. You have committed something to your customer, then you should deliver what you have promised.
Customer Care
Of course, none of the products you launch is bug-free. And customer needs resolution for it. If your customer care service is slower than expected, it creates frustration among customers.
Not Creating Good Relation with Customer
You will not get goody-goody type customers every time. You are here to make money, and I will only give money if you establish a good relationship with me.
The way he disconnected that call was rude and unprofessional.
Competitors
You will always get competitors in the market. Foodpanda refused to deliver food after 11 pm, but Swiggy cashed on this opportunity and delivered it.
If you are unable to compete with your competitors, then you can’t sustain in the market.
