It’s something most of us have felt at one time or another. And it’s the worst thing a company can do to a customer: Make them feel INVISIBLE.
As a customer you are invisible when you feel you’re being ignored. You’re needs are not being met. You are there trying to BE a customer but nobody seems to notice or care. They walk right by you as if you don’t exist.
You are an invisible customer.
The thing is, most companies (if asked) would tell you they have no “invisible customers”. Well duh! If they’re invisible then of course they’re not aware of them. And that’s the problem. Because invisible customers DO EXIST. They exist everyday in every city in almost every business.
Smart businesses understand and acknowledge this. Because then they can stop it and prevent it from happening in the future. The rest, well they continue doing what they have been doing, completely oblivious to all those people who want to be customers but can’t. Because they’re invisible.
It’s not hard preventing invisible customers. Just notice them. Acknowledge them. Serve them!
The real challenge is for companies to understand (admit) that they actually DO have invisible customers. Because it means they’re doing something wrong. And most of us hate admitting that.
The best way to fix this problem is to have your customers tell you when they are feeling invisible. And to do this you have to have a very good communications system. It needs to allow a persistent and transparent flow of information between customers, employees and management. And it needs to make it easy and convenient for customers to offer feedback.
Do this and then ask customers if they have ever felt “invisible” when they have done business with you. They’ll tell you. And when you reach the point where you are asking the question and nobody says “yes” then you have the problem beat.
Until then you need to keep working at it. Keep your eyes open and keep looking out for invisible customers. Eradicate them and you’ll increase customer loyalty in a big way.
Other articles you might like:
- Acknowledge Your Customer’s Presence
- How to Prevent Invisible Customers
- Eliminate invisible customers
- Don’t Let Invisible Customers Ruin Your Business
- Acknowledge Your Customer’s Presence
