In the business of marketing it’s our job (among others) to drive new sales. Often, we get caught in the middle between a sales team that wants all-or-nothing, no holds barred tactics, and our own sense of ethical marketing. While gimmicks and tricks can help boost the pipeline in the short run, in the long run they can be a death sentence. Think about these facts from SCORE :
The High Cost of Losing A Customer
- The lowest-ranking employee in a business can lose more customers than can be gained by the highest-ranking employee.
- In the average business, for every customer who bothers to complain, there are 26 others who remain silent.
- The average wronged customer will tell 8 to 16 people (about 10 percent will tell more than 20 people).
- 91 percent of unhappy customers will never purchase goods or services from you again.
- If you make an effort to remedy customer’s complaints, 82 to 95 percent of them will stay with you.
- It costs about 5 times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.
The fourth bullet really stands out to me. 91 percent of unhappy customers will NEVER purchase goods or services from you again. In tandem with the last bullet, it’s plain to see that we want to do everything we can to keep customers happy.
The temptation is always there when it comes to e-mail marketing. It is simply too easy, and too quick to push a button to see if you can move the needle. Keep customer interests, not your bottom line, as the number one priority. The beauty of it all? Find where those two intersect and you’ve got a winner!
If you are asked to choose between pulling tricks to pull in revenue and honest, effective marketing, remember these stats!
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