2009 Q1 Customer Attrition Surveys
How many customers has your company lost in the past year? And how much has it cost your company in lost revenues and operating margins. Most companies keep track of the number of new customers gained in the prior year but many do not measure the number of customer defections.
Customer attrition surveys represent an in-depth review into the reasons for lost business and customer dissatisfaction. The surveys help the company identify a direct link between service and product related issues and lost revenues.
Customers who closed accounts or substantially reduced business are surveyed shortly after that decision in order to determine the reasons. Telephone surveys are the best way of surveying lost customers. Typically, the survey is more qualitative in nature since the primary purpose is to probe for the underlying reasons that the company no longer does business with you.
There are many reasons cited by prior customers for no longer using your company’s products or services and a professional interviewer will get at the underlying causes. Certainly, price can play an integral factor but that needs to be balanced as part of the price/value relationship. Was the value received commensurate with the fee charged? On-going service can play a huge role in assessing future business activity with a customer and all dimensions of service must be probed during the telephone interview.
Sometimes, as a result of the interview, a customer is willing to give the company another chance to make things right. When you factor in the cost of acquiring new customers; the time, money and effort used to retain customers can provide an optimal return on capital.