Here are some of the most common reasons customers defect, along with suggestions for ways companies can stem the tide.

Please Call Back

The first thing a customer must be able to do is to reach the company -- conveniently and easily. Nothing infuriates customers more than encountering a taped message that instructs them to call back another time. Despite the availability of effective alternatives, this problem is still widespread.

Nidal Haddad, partner with Deloitte Consulting, told CRMDaily.com that one of the basics of effective customer service is to provide extended hours of operation. Even if a company's contact center closes during nonbusiness hours, he noted, providing access to an effective interactive voice response (IVR) system is a must.

Into the Black Hole

Customers quickly lose interest in a company that fails to keep track of them. Take the case of a shopper who sent a rebate form to her contact lens manufacturer. Around six weeks later, she got a check back -- with little or no explanatory information. By that point, she had almost forgotten about the rebate, and the marketing payoff was lost.

According to ClientLogic executive Amit Shankardass, that customer fell into the "black hole" of customer communications .

When there is a long lag in the processing of rebates and other loyalty incentives, their relevancy is lost, Shankardass said. He told CRMDaily that his company, which provides outsourced customer contact services, has developed a process for communicating several times with customers during rebate processing -- once to acknowledge receipt of the form and another time to notify them that the check has been sent. Shankardass said that this helps to connect the good will generated by loyalty offers back to the frequent customer.

The Unknown Customer

According to Shankardass, a good way to make frequent customers irate is to not know them when they call. "Customers are absolutely peeved off when reps cannot see previous transactions and identify high-value purchasers when they call," he said.

Mike Trotter of the Purdue Center for Customer-Driven Quality told CRMDaily that his group's data shows that this happens around 60 percent of the time. He described the scenario this way: "I'm sitting in the call center, [and] your call comes in with no identifying number, no home phone number, no account number, and I don't know who you are." Even a dedicated customer service rep is helpless in that situation. (continued...)

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