Customer research is unlikely to reveal this truth to you: I’m not a shopper. I find the experience quite exhausting. When I have to shop, I like it to be as quick and painless as possible. So I go with a list (and coupons) in hand.

Grocery Store Green Bell Peppers

Grocery store shopping is something I have to do each week (confession: my husband offers to go, but I’m a control freak, so it’s something I do). I recently made a change to my grocery shopping routine: I switched to another store. (I feel like that statement should be followed with a dozen exclamation points for emphasis.) This was no small feat for me. I am a creature of habit and with my need for speed and efficiency when shopping this is not a change I undertook lightly.

So why did I do it? I made the switch to save money.

Change isn’t easy

Switching to a new grocery store brings its share of pain. I must drive a different route to get to this store—not a longer route, just different. I must learn the layout of the new store—not impossible to do, but it takes time. And I must become familiar with the product offerings. So this was a huge change for me.

The process of switching to a new grocery store is similar to the process for switching from any business. Change can bring its share of pain—unless the reason to switch is a compelling one and the new business makes it easy. For my recent switch, it was the cost savings. For other companies, it may be their service or the quality of their products.

The challenge for businesses is keeping customers once they have made the switch (or not giving customers a compelling reason to switch to someone else in the first place).

Make it easy for customers to stay

In making my switch to a new grocery store, I’m finding some pluses and minuses. While the quality of the organic produce seems to be better at this store, the quantity and variety is limited. Actually, the non-produce organic selection overall seems also quite limited. And the one organic aisle they have is way too narrow. So that means I still must make a trek to the local organic market (good for the local organic market, but not for me as that takes more time).

I’m also finding that this new store doesn’t offer the same non-organic products that I buy fairly regularly. I haven’t seen a way to make product suggestions to the store. Nor do I know if they are open to suggestions. Granted they do give me the opportunity to participate in a survey (you know those links to surveys at the end of your grocery receipt). But this isn’t an easy way to make product suggestions. By the time I get home and unload my groceries, the last thing I want to do is to take more time to complete an online or phone survey. I’m on to the next thing.

Ask your customers the right questions…regularly

So this got me thinking. If my new grocery store isn’t offering an easy way for me to ask for new products, there are likely many other businesses falling into the same trap.

Many businesses are great at getting superficial ratings on “how well they’re doing.” But it’s the providers who dig deeper and ask questions that go beyond their current products or services–questions that provide actionable feedback–that have the chance to “wow” their customers. Simply put, wowed customers are much more likely to stick with you because you haven’t given them the reason to go elsewhere.

While this may seem like an obvious marketing rule of thumb, it’s quite surprising how many businesses don’t take the time to do research with their customers (or potential customers). Or, they fall victim to what I call “ego-driven” marketing–marketing guided by the thinking that they know best what customers want or need. Sometimes it takes a crisis for businesses to realize they’ve lost touch with their customers. And at that point, the stakes are much higher and keeping a customer can be much more difficult.

Customer research doesn’t have to cost huge sums of money. Less scientific data or qualitative research can be better than no data at all. Next time you’re at a trade show, consider arming your salespeople with a guided script that asks the questions that will help you understand your customers better: What challenges are they facing? What needs do they have? What other products or services would help? What are some troubling (or promising) industry trends they see? When salespeople are on the phone with customers have them take the opportunity to ask a few key questions.

Too often we can get too caught up in looking for new customers without giving much thought to what it takes to keep your current ones from looking elsewhere.

How often do you talk to your customers? Do you know what they want? Are you asking the right questions? Are you making it easy for your customers to do business with you?

Additional Reading:

Sixty eight percent is yours to keep

How to make the most of customer feedback