When it comes to retaining customers you need to distinguish between the type of customer purchase. Did they buy a one-off item or have they bought a service, something that can be measured in terms of the benefit it delivers to the customer on an ongoing basis. If they bought a service from you a year ago, then you deserve to lose them if you don't know if their needs are still being met by your product. If the product doesn't meet their current needs then its up to you to figure out if you can profitably close the gap, if you can't then at least you will know why they dumped you for a competitors product.
I have various loyalty cards, if a given product is the same price in two places I will buy it from the one where I have the loyalty card, but I also know where this has been added into the price in the first place. My 'loyalty' must have a payback either in terms of price or significantly better service or quality. If companies can't deliver at least one of these then they don't deserve loyalty anyway.
I have banked with First Direct for 6 years+ after switching from LLoyds TSB because of appallying interest rates on the current account. Just last month First direct decided to stop paying interest on first £500 in their internet savings account just like the other big banks, so I'm going to try smile for a while after getting no response to an email complaining about this.
Like Pieter above I liked last weeks column but was shocked by the Mac Attacks that occurred in response. Its more than a case of the customer is always right, in your case you had a right to get your repaired machine back in the state it was in before it failed, at no cost to you.
Apple's policy is at fault and in these cases the customer should complain and if necessary vote with your wallet/ purse if the response isn't good enough. Keep it up, we deserve better than what we get. Its also good to see you praise when praise is due.
The vendors need to speak to their customers and ask them what they want not sit in rooms without windows and dream up new ideas. Some of the advanced functionality in microsoft products is fantastic, but 90% of people don't know about it and 98% never use it. If software vendors involved their customers they would probably clamour for the next release not resist it until they can't put it off any longer.
My answers
When it comes to retaining customers you need to distinguish between the type of customer purchase. Did they buy a one-off item or have they bought a service, something that can be measured in terms of the benefit it delivers to the customer on an ongoing basis. If they bought a service from you a year ago, then you deserve to lose them if you don't know if their needs are still being met by your product. If the product doesn't meet their current needs then its up to you to figure out if you can profitably close the gap, if you can't then at least you will know why they dumped you for a competitors product.
I have various loyalty cards, if a given product is the same price in two places I will buy it from the one where I have the loyalty card, but I also know where this has been added into the price in the first place. My 'loyalty' must have a payback either in terms of price or significantly better service or quality. If companies can't deliver at least one of these then they don't deserve loyalty anyway.
I have banked with First Direct for 6 years+ after switching from LLoyds TSB because of appallying interest rates on the current account. Just last month First direct decided to stop paying interest on first £500 in their internet savings account just like the other big banks, so I'm going to try smile for a while after getting no response to an email complaining about this.
Like Pieter above I liked last weeks column but was shocked by the Mac Attacks that occurred in response. Its more than a case of the customer is always right, in your case you had a right to get your repaired machine back in the state it was in before it failed, at no cost to you.
Apple's policy is at fault and in these cases the customer should complain and if necessary vote with your wallet/ purse if the response isn't good enough. Keep it up, we deserve better than what we get. Its also good to see you praise when praise is due.
The vendors need to speak to their customers and ask them what they want not sit in rooms without windows and dream up new ideas. Some of the advanced functionality in microsoft products is fantastic, but 90% of people don't know about it and 98% never use it. If software vendors involved their customers they would probably clamour for the next release not resist it until they can't put it off any longer.