Bad customers: Do they exist and how can you identify them?
E-Commerce or any business activity include customers as the main component for their existence. In fact, most of the business traditions consider the customer as not less than ‘God.' It's a profound truth that the clients are the reason why companies exist. Conversion rates, for which every eCommerce site fights, is directly depended on the customers. Let it be a B2B industry or a B2C industry, customers exist in the picture for all; either bad or good.
The game of Good and Bad
For a successful online business, retailers always focus on providing the best value to their goods and services. Not all the customers you encounter are good customers, though. You could have some logical problems that are well understood by the customers. However, they might still bother you by taunting your support quality. Like every other coin, the flipped
side of this coin too. It consists of the valid and good customers who come to your site for purchasing and address a legitimate issue with you. They are the ones who fit correctly to your conversion optimization.
The Good customers need more attention
The good customers are the ones who address the valid problems to get a resolution from you; not to taunt or misname you. These kind of customers are the ones who should always be taken care of. Customers reporting the valid issue with a hope of resolution could be some of your loyal customers.
Contrasting to this, bad customers, however, are the ones who drain you and your store's profit for their repulsive intentions. You might not be able to please every customer of yours. Sometimes, it's better to give up a bad customer for good.
Signs of a bad customer:
Customers with off the wall Expectations-
It's the duty of the online retailers to showcase a proper customer expectation. If you as a retailer cannot properly take care of the affected customer, you might lose a good customer. Always provide a clear communication of customer expectations that should be set for the customers. Justify what you have communicated, and provide the support for it.
Despite all your cautions, some bad customers will always have the unreasonable explanation of their off the wall expectations. There isn't anything that you can do to please such customers. They will want anything, and would expect from you to get them that ‘anything.'
Customers taking advantages of the loopholes-
This category of customer will want you to get them what they want for nothing. Cheating is the only way they tend to resort.
We have often seen the cases for example when some customers take advantage of liberal return policies of the eCommerce sites. There was a case with Amazon when two students were caught taking advantage. They were cheating the eCommerce company by ordering
electronics gadgets, and while returning, replacing the gadgets with sand and stone in the parcel packets.
This case in an example of how some bad customers with questionable intentions resort to unethical practices.
Threatening customers-
Some of the bad customers will always opt for the ultimate weapon from their very first conversation with the support associates. They threat your business to raise a discussion on consumer forums. They would also threat you to misname on the social media platforms. The ultimate threat you get after that is to sue you.
When you try to reason them, they will sue you for emotional distress. When you argue with them, they will sue you for harassment. Threats of lawsuits have become so common nowadays; 8 out of 10 conversions directly points to a lawsuit.
When you encounter such situation with a bad customer, it's best if you do not let it affect you. Though these threats are emotionally harassing, they cannot hit your business with
words. Laws and protocols made for eCommerce and other retailing are not that weak that anyone can take their wrong advantage. Laws, protocols, and forums are there for the benefits of both the sides. Anyone cannot just manipulate to threaten your business.
Sometimes it’s better to let them Go
It is understandable that customers are always the pillar of any business. It takes a lot of conversion rate optimization and search engine optimization to bring a customer to your site. It is painful to let them go.
However, the situations mentioned above are practically nothing less than a pain. When you make a mistake, there is a scope of rectification, and the good customers always provide
you the one. Concentrate your focus on such loyal customers and try to please them with your conversion optimization. It is not good to spend sleepless nights in tension for pleasing those who cannot be pleased anyhow. Cut them "Loose,", and your eCommerce business would be much better without them.