4 Myths: What Really Makes Customers Happy

I don't know about you, but when I've been a long-term, loyal customer at a company and I see it making special offers to attract new customers, I get a little offended. I've helped sustain their business, and they offer a discount to somebody who's never sent them a dime?

Besides, there are lots of great reasons for businesses to stop focusing so much on new customers and focus more on the ones they already have, according to Becky Carroll, a San Diego marketing consultant and author of "The Hidden Power of Your Customers: 4 Keys to Grow Your Business through Existing Customers" (Wiley, 2011). Problem is, not everybody knows how to do that. Here are four common myths companies hold about keeping existing customers happy:

1) Good customer service is enough. Service is important, Carroll says, but to keep existing customers happy, you need a killer customer experience overall. She points to Urbane Apartments, a Royal Oak, Michigan, property management company that welcomes prospects with a lobby that looks, sounds and feels like a hip nightclub, and gives leasing candidates a "golden key" they can use to open and inspect any available empty apartment on the property, without a leasing agent hovering over their shoulder. "They reinvented the entire experience," Carroll says. Result: "People who rent from them are extremely loyal and great referrers. They have upwards of 90 percent of their property filled -- in Detroit."

2) The customer is always right. "The customer is not always right," Carroll says. Sometimes customers make mistakes, and sometimes it's nobody's fault that something went wrong. "It's not who's right, it's what's right. What needs to be done to fix the situation?" she asks. You don't always need to give away the store in your frantic efforts to soothe the customer, either. Sometimes a simple apology is enough to make everybody happy.

3) Once you get a prospect to become a customer, the job is done. Lots of businesses get excited when they welcome a new customer, but after that the only thing the customer gets is a bill. "They forget about these customers because they're out chasing new ones," she says. "Customers want to know you know who they are and you care on a regular basis." Carroll recommends old-fashioned hand-written notes thanking them for their business. "It doesn't take a lot," she says. "You can have some note cards with you and write them when you're waiting in line."

4) Social media is the best way to talk with customers, because it's free. "Social media does have a cost. It's not free," Carroll says. "It takes time to monitor and manage. Plus, not all your customers are out there." Some don't use social media; some do but not for business. Carroll recommends asking customers if they want to be contacted via social media before making it a priority. Or, you can look at how they're contacting you. "If they're reaching out to you via social media, that's a good indicator that it's a channel they prefer," she says.

Mark Henricks is an Austin, Texas, freelance journalist whose reporting on business, technology and other topics has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and other leading publications. Learn more about him at The Article Authority. Follow him on Twitter @bizmyths.

Image courtesy of Flickr user IvanWalsh.com, CC2.0