How Not to Make a Customer For Life

A prevailing theme at my place of work is "Making a Customer for Life". A customer that comes back for more every time. A customer who doesn't care about other companies are out there, they just know the company they are with right now is the one for them.

Do you want to know how not to make a customer for life? Give them a reason to look for other options. Make it difficult for them to continue to be a loyal customer. Sometimes change hurts when you're a customer. They may stay with your brand just because it's easier not to change, but if you make it difficult, then the will to change will push them over the fear of the change.

I've experienced this first hand in the last few weeks. I, being a fairly loyal customer of Microsoft, decided I needed to make a change. It wasn't because I wanted the change, but because the circumstances I was in encouraged the change.

Here's how to not make a customer for life:

1. Make it difficult for your customers to get replacement media

I know, it's my fault. I lost the Windows XP CD. I should've made a backup (which I would've lost). But it shouldn't be this difficult to get a replacement. I looked all over Microsoft's support site. Didn't find it. I searched the maker of my laptop, Toshiba. Didn't find it. Shouldn't this be in a FAQ? What were my options? I could either download it from a P2P network or borrow one from a friend.

2. Take away the customers ability to install software they own

I ended up trying to install Windows with a friends CD. Shouldn't be a problem, right? I have my product license key stuck to the bottom of my laptop. It wouldn't install with it. I was lifting up the laptop, typing 5 characters at a time. It would never take. Even if I used a different key, I knew from past experiences that Windows won't update any of the service packs without Windows being authenticated.

3. Assume your customers don't have any other options

I could have called Microsoft or Toshiba. But I didn't want to have to. I'm not usually home during the hours of their support line and it was a hassle for me. It was at that point that I looked for other options. My laptop couldn't handle Vista and I wasn't planning on buying a new PC. So I started looking into Linux, settling with the Ubuntu operating system. I'm blogging from my laptop right now, using a free OS that has everything I need.

I'm not convinced Linux is the answer for everyone. What I am convinced of though, is that technology companies need to start thinking they are the ones privileged enough to serve the customer instead of thinking the customer should feel privileged to use the companies product.

It's not like I'm ditching Windows, but they did give me a reason to try something new and challenging. So, I guess I can thank Microsoft for something.