What is Customer Offboarding and Why you Should Know about it

Posted by Unlimited Exposure Online on April 13th, 2018

Customer Offboarding

Customer offboarding comes with some big benefits, yes, and it’s important to know how to make the most from them.

‘Customer onboarding’ is a term used to refer to the initial meeting and beginning to the relationship between company and user. ‘Customer offboarding’ is used similarly, describing the end of the relationship between company and user. Customer offboarding is, simply put, the last time that a user interacts with your brand.

Why offboarding is so important is because a negative offboarding experience is one that could have significant consequences on your company. Customers are willing to forgive getting off on the wrong foot with your company, if they end up satisfied in the end. If a customer’s last interaction with your brand is negative however, that is more likely to result in a negative online review, bad press for your business, and word-of-mouth that could turn the user’s friends and family from ever using your company.

Customer offboarding is all about high standards of customer service in addition to key elements of online marketing and web design, such as truthful marketing, creative copywriting, and user-friendly design components. There’s a reason some potential customers are going to turn away from your business. By knowing why customers are leaving your business and/or what their last interaction with your site is like, it can give insight into how to improve.

For example, why do customers leave your website – this can be everything from an incompatible web design with their mobile device to not being able to find the information they are seeking. To combat customers wanting to leave a website, some sites have come up with exit-based pop-ups complete with a coupon or discount on specific products or services. At times, this has proven to be an effective method at holding onto a customer.

There’s another example that lies in a customer cancelling a service. This may be because of an unfair price point, going with a competitor, or a lack of need for the service. Cancelling a service should be easy, in any case. Accommodate any customer who wants to cancel however don’t be afraid to ask them to fill out a short survey or answer a few questions on why. If the customer is motivated or has a few minutes to spare, you may be able to shine a light on how not to lose similar customers like them.

A third example can be found in unsubscribing from an email newsletter. In all likelihood, we all have unsubscribed from an email newsletter before. The process can be easy or difficult to navigate. By including a link at the bottom of an email to unsubscribe, this is the most recommended method to ensure customers who want to unsubscribe don’t leave annoyed or unhappy. From there, the link should lead to page where it’s easy to unsubscribe.

Successful customer offboarding might seem counterintuitive to some. After all, you’re losing a customer. When a user completes their transaction with your site, positive or negative, the process of leaving should not leave a bad taste in their mouth. By employing annoying practices to get them to stay or making it difficult for them to uncouple from your website, it creates a negative customer experience.

Just like knowing good customer onboarding practices, being aware of appropriate and effective offboarding can help maintain strong customer service ratings, and potentially result in the same customer returning to your site in the future. Http://unlimitedexposure.com

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Unlimited Exposure Online
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