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.

Welcome to The Straits of Tech blog

Let me introduce myself. My name is Kyle Harrison and this is my blog. I plan on sharing my love for technology, business, and my beloved city of Detroit with you. My goal is to enhance and engage the internet community. In order to help me reach my goals, please leave your comments or seek me out on twitter. Thank you and enjoy!

Obama Continues to Use Internet Buzzwords on Google

I have to thank my twitterfeed again for finding this. User @chownage notes that when you google the word twitter, it comes up with the popular micro-blogging tool first, but then the second link is to Barack Obama's twitter page. I would think this might confirm Obama's campaign includes paying for better page ranks in search, especially since the same thing was happening when you searched Facebook last week and now it's gone. I guess it could be popular enough to make it to the top.



I'm still a little torn on whether it's a great idea or just over the top. Not that anything illegal is happening. It just seems like polotics is all about association and if you're associated with up and coming internet companies and buzzwords like Facebook and Twitter, it's probably better than being associated with oil companies and an old regime.

Cropper Makes My Life Easier

Cropper? What can Cropper do for me? Well, I don't know exactly what it can do for you, but I know what it has done for me. This easy to use tool allows you to take a snapshot of anything on your screen in any size by simply double-clicking. It's great for blogging, documentation, and technical support. A co-worker introduced it to me at work and I use it everyday. I can size the snapshot, then double-click and paste to an email or Word or PowerPoint. Such a great tool.

I just used it for the first time at home in my last blog post and I thought I would share it with you.

Cropper was created by Brian Scott. You can read his blog post about Cropper, including all features and fixes. You can download Cropper here. Enjoy!

Barack Obama and Facebook

Does anyone find it odd the second search result from typing in Facebook into google is Barack Obama's Facebook page? Does that mean there's that much interest in that page or it's the most relevant page for Facebook in Google indexes? Interesting...



Update: I have to thank @chownage from my Twitterfeed for letting me know about this interesting find.