One recent survey shows that companies lose about half of their customers over a five-year period, and in most instances, the customers jumped ship without ever saying why.

The survey, by Bain & Co., indicates that most customers who walk do so without ever complaining or explaining the reason for choosing another product or company. They just walk.

Some companies try to combat the problem by doing customer surveys and using the feedback to make adjustments. That’s OK, but it should be only part of a strategy for keeping up communications with customers – with the goal of keeping them. What else can be done?

• Instruct any employees who have face-to-face (or phone) contact with customers to get feedback. That attacks the problem from another angle, and gets information that you otherwise might never hear.
• If you do customer surveys, make sure to do follow-up, too. What action is being taken in response to the surveys? Are customers being contacted for more depth about their responses? One of the biggest mistakes you can make with customer surveys is to gather the info and then say, “OK, we surveyed customers. Now that’s done.”