The other day I had an urgent swiggies order for a kid’s birthday party on the other side of the country. So I packaged up the box and headed down to the shipping company I normally use. You have to print everything up online and put the shipping label on the package before getting to the distribution station.
Creating customers for life
For some reason I couldn’t remember which log in and password I used, so I went down in person. The people there weren’t very helpful and just told me to go back home and call the company for help. So I did. And I waited and waited on the phone for what seemed like an eternity. When I finally got someone on the phone I was told to jump through some more hoops online, but it still didn’t work. I went back down and they basically told me there was nothing they could do.
So, I went to the competition. They both charge about the same thing, only the other company lets you walk in and just fill out the paperwork. You can do it online if you want to save time, but it’s not mandatory. By now you probably know which companies I’m talking about if you do a lot of shipping.
The clerk at the other place was very friendly and went out of his way to find a better way for me to ship the package. I didn’t have to do it online and deal with log ins and passwords. He wrote up everything for me.
Now, even though he didn’t get paid any extra for the extra customer service, I definitely took note. It’s funny how we become such creatures of habit that even when the normal company I usually use was difficult and unpleasant, I still stuck with them because… well, I don’t know why. Because I’m a creature of habit.
People will stick with something until it becomes unbearable. Totally unbearable. Which is where I was with the first shipping company. I stayed with them until I had no other choice. But now that I know there is a better, easier to use, friendlier shipping company out there, they’ve gained a customer for life.
As long as your prices are similar to your competition’s, customers will always choose the one with the best customer service. How are you creating customers for life?