We often speak about the “customer journey” or the overall experience that a customer has with an organization. The customer journey starts when a customer first interacts with a brand, and continues each subsequent time. 

Here’s the thing about the customer journey, though: As much as we want it to be a predictable process, the customer journey is anything but that. Customers, in other words — even loyal ones making repeat purchases — may stray to competitors and explore other brands from time to time. And there is no guarantee that they will come back. 

For marketers and sales representatives it can be challenging trying to understand why customers leave — when one minute a customer seems happy, and the next they are simply gone.

A customer may decide to delete his or her account, cancel a subscription or stop contributing to a fundraising campaign with little to no warning.  When this happens to one customer, it may not be that noticeable. But when it starts happening in large numbers, it can be very troubling.

Understand, though, that it’s possible to win back unhappy customers and make them fall in love with your brand again. 

Here are some strategies you can use: 

Stop the Bleeding:

I encourage you to take a holistic approach to Customer Care. When problems arise, and customers are unhappy, you need to get to the root cause and fix it. Perhaps there is a perception that your price is too high, or you made a recent change in a product. Or, maybe your customer service department is in need of a new retention strategy.

So when a customer cancels a subscription, deletes an account or stops making repeat purchases, don’t be afraid to ask "why" they are unhappy with your company and what you could do to serve them more effectively. The best way to do this is through a separate phone call, email, or a personal letter sent to their address. Just make sure to always thank customers for their time and feedback. 

A few weeks after you send out the above-mentioned survey, don’t be afraid to send a personalized thank you note back to the customer, letting him or her know that you have taken his or her feedback into consideration and would love to have them back.

You may also use this opportunity to offer incentives, too. If you don’t ask customers to come back, they may not think to do so on their own. 

Use the information gleaned from customer surveys and online reviews to make your company better. The last thing you want to do is win a customer back, only to have him or her leave for the same reason! For instance, if a customer unsubscribes from a service because they are receiving too many emails, don’t start spamming them again.