Problematic customer - see the opportunity to grow!
Every webshop has some - or many customers that are problematic. Even if it seems like they only take money and time from you, it is worth trying to deal with them, as they might turn into a loyal customer and help you develop in the long run.
Loss of money and time
You might have met with a problematic customer. You know, the one who dreams away when ordering, not checking the cart, and then when the package arrives, they will be shocked. Obviously, they want to change the items - as so they should. Yes, this situation can be pretty uncomfortable, as you might lose money and time. On one hand, there is the delivery fee, which nowadays can be very expensive, so with a smaller profit margin, this can take away the profit. On the other hand, time loss also happens as taking care of the case - emailing, and speaking on the phone takes time - is also not profitable in the long run.
Take care of them, it will be worth it!
Why should you invest energy in these customers? There are two important reasons!
You can learn from it
If you ask these customers, where did the order go wrong, you can get very useful information. From these insights, you can catch issues on your webshop that are not necessarily caused by the customer. In the long run, you can avoid false purchases and cart abandonments by listening and implementing these insights.
An example: there is a product that has a drop-down menu list the customer can choose. The customer can’t see the drop-down list, so they do not choose the one they really wanted to. If you get this feedback, you can change the list to show the options separately for example. This way, you can decrease the number of failed orders.
From a problematic customer to a loyal one? It is possible!
The trader’s attitude can influence and change these situations to a positive outcome. It is proven that a proactive and helpful trader can turn a problematic customer into a loyal one. The positive outcome will make them recommend your webshop to their friends. So it is definitely a success story in the end. You should also consider the fact that getting a new customer to your webshop is more expensive than channeling a returning one. Let’s see them as a growing opportunity and not as a pain in the head, and try to learn from them as much as possible.
