20 proven ways for losing customers

If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s customer support, you’ve likely come across many articles and lists that tell you what your team should be doing.

These kinds of tips can be an excellent starting point for putting together an effective support approach. But it’s equally important to know the strategies you’ll want to avoid customer churn and lost customers.

That’s why, in this post, we’ll cover 20 things your support agents shouldn’t do.

By being aware of these behaviors, your team can strive to actively avoid them and deliver the kind of service your customers want and need.

1. Avoid taking responsibility

When an agent receives a support ticket, they are unlikely to be the cause of that customer’s frustration.

Sometimes, that frustration will be due to an error in another department. Other times, the problem will simply come from a lack of understanding. It may not be your company’s fault at all.

But none of that matters.

Instead of pushing the blame off on another team (or, worse yet, on the customer), the first step should always be apologizing for the issue. This only takes a matter of seconds, but it can go a long way in showing the customer that you’re on their side.

2. Be indifferent

Some customer issues may seem relatively insignificant. But no matter how minor their concerns are, it’s essential to show that you care about providing a solution.

Indifference can quickly escalate any customer’s frustrations and make them feel alone in resolving a problem. This is never the experience you want them to have.

3. Tell customers they’re wrong

Your support team is more familiar with your product than the average customer is. So when customers run into issues because they’re using a feature incorrectly or have an inaccurate idea of how something works, it can be tempting to simply tell them they’re wrong.

That’s never a good idea.

Agents should provide new customers with the information they need to move forward, but they should do so in a helpful and non-abrasive manner. They should never blame the customer for a simple misunderstanding.

4. Withhold empathy

Each of your customers is a person, and that should come across in every support interaction.

In some cases, an agent will not be able to provide a resolution that’s satisfactory to the customer. They should still make it clear that they understand the issue and why it matters.

5. Fail to seek clarification

Your support team likely sees the same handful of scenarios on a weekly (or even daily) basis. As a result, they might want to skip directly to a generic answer or solution after they read certain inquiries.

But that’s not always a good idea.

Although certain resolutions might solve a large portion of your customers’ issues, it’s important to fully hear each one out before jumping to conclusions. This way, agents can be confident that they’re always providing the right advice.

6. Ignore feedback

Keeping your customers happy is essential for running a successful business. This means that when they provide feedback, you need to listen.

Although it can be tempting to believe that your team always knows best, that’s not necessarily the case. The suggestions your customers bring forward could be exactly what you need to know in order to grow and improve.

7. Treat customers like numbers

Now that a large number of companies handle support inquiries online, it’s all too common for agents to treat customers like tickets that they need to resolve.

That’s not an ideal approach to providing great service.

Remember that each inquiry in your queue is coming from a real person and treat them with the respect and care they deserve.

8. Argue with their complaints

Not every customer complaint will seem reasonable to your team. That’s especially true when those complaints are about matters that are out of your control or things that you never intended for your product or service to do.

But there’s no use in arguing with customers over these issues. At best, arguing leads to frustration for both parties. At worst, it costs your business a customer.

9. Make promises you can’t keep

Telling a customer that you can’t provide the solution they want is no fun, but it’s sometimes an unavoidable part of the support process.

And no matter how much you want to sugarcoat a situation, the best approach is to be straightforward. Don’t be vague, don’t say that you’ll “look into it,” and don’t push the responsibility off on another team.

Ultimately, someone will have to deliver the bad news, and delaying the process only makes it more difficult.

10. Disregard customer support metrics

Many customer support platforms now give teams the ability to measure and track performance based on metrics like response time, resolution time, and customer satisfaction rate.  

Don’t miss out on the value that these metrics can bring. Use them to create performance benchmarks, set concrete goals, and improve the level of service you provide.

11. Forget to follow up

You can’t resolve every inquiry in a single interaction. And while asking customers to wait is sometimes inevitable, it’s absolutely essential to follow up with a solution or additional information.

Fortunately, many platforms now include reminders to simplify the process. But if you’re using a support platform that doesn’t offer automated reminders, it’s important to have a system in place to ensure that tickets never slip through the cracks.

12. Be inconsistent

Some customers will interact with your team multiple times. They may contact you several times with a single issue, or they may simply have questions over their years as a loyal customer.

It’s important that the customer experience is consistent in each of these interactions. Make sure that every agent on your team is familiar with standard resolutions, processes, and policies so that they don’t run the risk of contradicting one another and confusing your customers.

13. Limit your support to a single channel

Different people have different preferences for engaging with companies and asking for help. Your business needs to cater to those preferences by offering multiple support channels.

At the very least, most customers now consider email and phone support as standard. But depending on your audience and their support needs, adding other channels can be a great way to boost satisfaction with your service.

14. Make your customers feel stupid

Because your support team has extensive knowledge of your product, answers to certain questions may seem obvious.

But that notion should never come across during support interactions. Treat every customer with respect and make a conscious effort not to downplay their frustration or concerns.

15. Assume that you have resolved problems

After a support agent provides an answer to a customer’s question, they’ll typically want to move to the next inquiry on their list as quickly as possible.

But before marking a ticket as resolved, it’s important to make sure that the customer considers it resolved. Assuming that an answer is sufficient can lead to unresolved issues and customer frustration, which are two things that you never want to have as part of your service experience.

16. Skip the training process

If your support team is feeling swamped with work and inquiries, you may want to get new agents into the workflow as quickly as possible. But it’s important to give them time to get familiar with your company, product, and approach to customer support.

This can take some extra time upfront, but it’s an essential step toward providing great service. Plus, it will ultimately help them become a more valuable member of your team.

17. Fail to set expectations

Some customer inquiries require an agent to spend time researching possible solutions or consult other team members. In those cases, that agent should take the time to first set clear expectations for the customer.

Try to give customers an accurate idea of when they can expect a response or resolution and some ideas of what the solution might be. This can help gain their trust and show them that you’re serious about providing a solution.

18. Rush the support process

If your team is feeling overwhelmed with inquiries, it can be tempting to move through each of them as quickly as possible.

And while aiming for efficiency is certainly good, it’s important not to make customers feel rushed. Take the time to fully understand their issue and give them the attention and assistance they need.

Even if it adds a few seconds to each ticket, making customers feel important is more than worth it.

19. Avoid putting in extra effort

Some tickets don’t require a lot of effort to adequately provide a solution. Still, your team’s goal shouldn’t be to give the bare minimum.

Of course, that’s not to say that agents should go out of their way to make every customer interaction an over-the-top experience.

However, when opportunities arise to go above and beyond, taking them can go a long way toward building customer loyalty. Plus, it might simply brighten someone’s day.

20. Take your customers for granted

When it comes down to it, your customers are necessary for your business to exist, grow, and thrive. This means that you should never take them for granted.

They likely have several other options for the products or services you provide, but they chose your brand over the rest.

Reminding your support team of this simple fact on a regular basis can help motivate them to deliver excellent service. It can also bring a sense of appreciation to each customer interaction they have.

21. Not leveraging social media

It’s 2024—everybody uses social media. Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) are among the top places where customers regularly post about grievances and poor customer experiences. Business owners who neglect social media for customer support risk losing potential customers and new clients. Social listening helps businesses address unhappy customers quickly, preventing slow response times and over-promising in their value proposition. Without an effective CRM and social media integration, the sales processes may suffer from lost revenue and missed referrals. Onboarding new clients effectively requires support reps to engage customers promptly. Failing to meet these expectations can damage word of mouth, a crucial part of any marketing strategy, and turn potential customers away to competitors offering better support.

Conclusion

Building a successful support team for a small business requires more than simply hiring a few people with customer service experience. To reduce churn and improve customer retention, you should provide your customers with the top-notch service they deserve. In addition to training your agents on the do’s and do n’ts of customer service, this requires creating a comprehensive support strategy to eliminate poor customer service, using automation, and using robust AI-powered customer service software.

Some support managers make the mistake of only training new hires on software and a few basic resolutions. However, you should also advise them on making existing customers feel heard, maintaining a consistent level of service, and building your brand’s reputation.

The bottom line is that if your team does any of the common reasons listed in this post, they’re unlikely to earn happy customers for your business. So, if you’re not yet teaching agents what not to do, it’s something worth considering. The 20 behaviors above can serve as a starting point.