The Hidden Cost of Errors in Products
Use analytics to track missed opportunities your customers don’t report
Errors in software, services, or physical devices prevent a customer from experiencing the intended functionality. The 404 error in the image above represents a case that many non-technical users have grown accustomed to, where a broken link has led them to a page that does not exist.
The following sections show five real examples of how errors caused missed opportunities and solutions to prevent future occurrences (Names of people and businesses omitted).
1. A popular beauty website almost loses a customer to an ad-blocker
While shopping on the website, a customer shouted, “Ugh, [company]’s website sucks!” The exclamation was loud enough to turn heads and prompt inquiry from another person.
Clicking the checkout button took the shopper to a partially blank white screen, with no course of action. Advanced troubleshooting steps from a bystander, which non-technical people would not be capable of, revealed the issue. Ad-blocking software had blocked a portion of the page, leaving the header and main menu intact. Fortunately, the bystander recovered the sale, but how many shoppers did not have that support?
Takeaway: Some customers will campaign against companies
Million-dollar advertising campaigns cannot compete against word-of-mouth recommendations from friends. A customer with a bad experience may not just tell their friends, but recommend other products in the future. The competition earned the best kind of advertising at no cost.
In this example, the customer shouted about the company’s failure. Everyone listening had a subtle and unconscious reinforcement about the brand’s deficiencies, even if the situation was remedied — imagine if it was not.
Solution: Interaction Tracking Software
Tracking software can provide insights into every interaction a customer has with a website. It can inform exactly when customers drop off from the checkout process. These tools also silently report errors when someone encounters them (in this case, a content blocked error). Upon discovering the issue, the beauty website could either make themselves compliant with the ad-blocking software or kindly ask the customer to disable it before proceeding.
2. An internet service provider (ISP) loses a customer because of a third-party contractor
While switching ISPs, a third-party contractor installed a new cable to prepare for an upcoming installation, accidentally cutting a competitor’s existing cable. This left the customer without an internet connection during COVID19 quarantine, preventing them from working (coffee shops not an option). The contractor did not report the accident, and the customer canceled the new service.
Takeaway: One negative experience can lose a customer
When competition is readily available, having a negative experience like losing vacation days to a cut cable, may cause customers never to return. This is especially the case with first experiences, where loyalty has not yet been earned.
A competing product or service will appear better, even if it’s less capable — because it works.
Takeaway: Errors may go unreported
No fix could be applied in a factory or software update for the ISP example. The behavioral error came from a third-party contractor, in which the ISP had little insight. There is no metric to track unreported errors.
Takeaway: There can be more than one error
The ISP support did not fight to prevent the cancellation or offer any empathy — probably not what the company intended. This error in training support associates properly caused a missed opportunity.
Solution: Customer service training
Accidents happen, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be remedied. By requiring customer service representatives to ask for cancellation reasons, they can be trained to handle them.
In the example above, the situation could have been resolved with empathy and a discount. The lost revenue for one month would have been better than a lifetime. Noting the reason would have also enabled them to fine the contractor.
Solution: Business Analytics
Business analytics software can help fill the gaps for errors that go unreported. An analyst could compare recent events in service to find cancellations…
- after a contractor installation
- after a service outage
- after promotion pricing ends
3. A bakery loses a customer after failing to update their online menu
The bakery advertised a special dish on Instagram, which prompted a customer to order from their website. Unfortunately, the out-of-date online menu did not list the new item. The only way to order was through the phone (in-person was not an option due to COVID19). This sale was not recovered. Not only did the bakery lose out on the profits from the new dish, but the customer was also planning to purchase other items from the menu. Those items were not worth the delivery fee on their own.
Takeaway: Not everyone will ask for help
The bakery forgot about introverts, who will avoid talking on the phone at all costs. Calling to inquire about the missing dish was not worth the effort and anxiety. After all, they chose to order online for a reason.
Solution: A single source of truth
By updating the website before announcing on Instagram, a lost sale could have been avoided.
A single source of truth means that the menu is defined in one place: the point of sales (POS) system. By converting to a digital display in physical stores, bakery owners can guarantee a match between online, telephone, and in-person menus. Owners are much more likely to remember to set up the dish in the POS system, or they would not be able to charge the customer.
Solution: Business Analytics
Analytics could prevent this error from happening again. Comparing online, phone, and in-store orders by dish would reveal the error. From there, the bakery could re-introduce the special on Instagram, apologizing for the mishap.
4. A mobile game loses a customer after failing to deliver on a purchase
A popular mobile game has a bundle that allows a customer to summon powerful monsters, guaranteeing at least one 5-star monster (out of 5 stars). When actually summoning, the guaranteed monster turned out to be an evolved (upgraded) 4-star monster. If that’s confusing, the point is that the customer did not get what they paid for. The frustration led them to quit for another game.
Takeaway: The customer may have an emotional impact
Some errors can leave customers with awful experiences. In this case, the customer did not get what they were promised and was left with the stress of being robbed. Dealing with an unresponsive support process only exacerbated negative emotions, causing the customer to cut the losses.
Imagine having a credit card declined in a checkout line at a grocery store. That is a nightmare scenario for some, especially when plenty of credit is available, and it’s a flaw in the system. Using that same card successfully at the next store will reinforce the decision never to return.
Solution: Better support processes enable feedback
Other games with monster summons provide better support for errors by having in-game feedback options. Some even have built-in messaging, so there is no need to create a separate account on a random forum outside of the app to get help.
The easier the process is for the customer, the more likely they’ll give feedback.
Solution: Business analytics
These kinds of errors can be caught with analytics. A report comparing the number of 5-star monsters to money spent would reveal people spending money having none.
Solution: Interaction tracking software
A purchase immediately preceding sudden inactivity could give a clue about the reason for leaving. That customer could be targeted with an email promising them a free summon pack if they return.
5. A retail giant loses customers from the inability to checkout online
A retail giant’s online checkout process failed at the worst possible time: Black Friday (a shopping holiday). While some customers may have patiently waited, hoping the recovery would give them a chance at a deal, others were left confused, leaving for other retailers. The monetary losses for this kind of error could range in the millions.
Takeaway: Only a subset of customers provide feedback
Feedback can be misleading. A sharp decline in sales may not match outstanding reviews or vice versa. Some people will never fill out a survey, even with bribery (gift cards/discounts).
For the retail giant example, no one else seemed to be experiencing the outage at the moment of impact; there were no comments online until hours later when a few people posted on Reddit. Anyone who was not familiar with that platform was left confused and out of the loop.
If there are workarounds to errors, some customers may choose to live with them, accepting them as something that will eventually be fixed. However, the lack of reporting may leave the company ignorant or thinking the error is minor.
Other customers will assume that someone else has already reported an error, and a fix is already underway. This is called the bystander effect.
Solution: Error management software
These tools are designed to track outages. There are even alerts for when certain errors exceed a threshold, so if 10,000 errors happen in less than an hour, someone gets an automated phone call in the middle of the night.
If the fix takes time to apply, a simple apology at the top of the website stating the progress on every page could save tons of money.
Advice
Respond to error reports manually (or at least make it look manual)
Automated responses make people feel insignificant, except when they promise a real response to come later.
Express gratitude toward the customer. Remember that they went out of their way to contact support while others left the business ignorant.
Have you ever sent an error through a dialog that popped up when a program crashed, only to never hear a response? It doesn’t make me want to do it again.
Use analytics software
These tools should protect users' privacy while providing insights to business owners, empowering them to make decisions in the absence of customer feedback.
Apologize and discount
When an error occurs, own up and apologize publicly. By using analytics software, you could even limit those apologies to those impacted.
Don’t make the customer ask for a discount, because some never will. Offering one proactively could prevent silent resentment and boost the business's image.
The customer is always right
Let the other person save face. — Dale Carnegie
Never make it seem like the customer’s fault. Doing so may put them on the defensive and cause an unpleasant experience. Customer support representatives should be trained to respond with empathy.
Support calls are not the only source of blame. With poor user experiences, a customer may be presented with an error message indicating that they did something wrong (when they actually didn’t). Those messages can produce abrasive responses with a surplus of curse words.
In the examples above, customers had no impact on the errors they encountered. Even if they did, something in the process allowed them to make that error.
If customers are expected to…
- read the fine print, then it should not have been fine print.
- pay a bill on time, then the setup process should have enabled automatic payments.
- know the risks, then the risks were not communicated clearly enough.
- be patient, then there was not enough investment in tools and infrastructure.
- not use external software like ad-blockers, then the product is too restrictive and needs to be tested in more environments.
Conclusion
Each example had a commonality: the businesses lost customers from unreported errors. Sometimes that unavoidable, but not unrecoverable. Using tools like analytics software can help give insight into what’s really happening.
Errors can have side-effects that never surface on their own. Relying on customer feedback is not perfect, but neither are analytics tools. Customers that do provide feedback should be treated like saints.
