The lack of focus on customer experience is the hidden problem in most small businesses today. Did you know that 82% of customers report they have left business after one negative experience. It doesn’t matter if they had 10 positive experiences before, once they have a negative experience they won’t be coming back. 

Here are the top three ways that they severely affect your overall strategy. 

They affect your:

Business Growth

This one is pretty obvious. Without recurring customers it’s almost impossible to own and operate a successful business. As a whole we spend so much money finding and acquiring customers that it makes no sense not to take care of them once we’ve invested so much into them. 

Public Perception

We are in a digital world and like it or not, more people are likely to share a bad review online than a positive one.  This digital media is a force to grow our company but it can also be a huge detriment to our company. The online image of your company matters more than ever and the less negative reviews you have the better. 

Employee’s Mindset

An employee who shows up to work each and every day, and is inspired to provide the best service possible is a major asset to the company. If that’s not happening and the employee is dealing with frustrated customers on a day to day basis, that will have an affect on their mentality and it can really drive dissatisfaction in and outside of the company.

How You Can Fix it:

• Start from the top and work on providing the best customer service and teach that to your employees. 
• Dedicate time each and every week to poor over online reviews and try to help solve your customers problems. 
• Encourage customers to leave reviews and incentivize them for doing so. 
• Invest in a Customer Connection Tools like FreshLime’s Message Center to really help you stay on top of the back and forth communication going on. 
• Remember that it takes time to change and to take a step each day in the right direction. 

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. If any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add, please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!

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