Why Customer Loyalty Isn’t Always About More Choices

Stop confusing your buyers.
I was so frustrated. I was trying to contact a prospect and couldn’t find the company phone number on their website. Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but the phone works. I wasn’t cold calling, I was calling a referral—who, by the way, had no contact information on his email signature.
I’ve walked out of many retail stores when no one even bothered to acknowledge I was there. That’s just plain rude, and it’s certainly not how to build customer loyalty. It’s equally rude and appalling in a business-to-business setting—whether that interaction is happening in person or online.
When companies make it difficult for their prospects to buy, they lose business without knowing it. Customers get equally frustrated when the buying process becomes ridiculously complex, and they can’t get answers to their questions.
Companies invest significant money on marketing—email campaigns, SEO, and strategies for getting found and building customer loyalty. Then they blow