From working with many customers to help keep their critical databases up and running we have come up with the top 6 reasons for putting Database Availability at the top of your priority list. In this blog we look at Lost Customers:
If an organisation is experiencing an outage, whether planned or unplanned, it is all too easy for customers to get frustrated and take their business to a competitor. This is particularly relevant in an online retail environment. One click can have a customer abandoning their shopping basket and looking for an alternative.
Customers expect services to be available 24/7 whether they are accessing a mobile banking app, shopping website or searching for an insurance quote. Even outages caused by planned, routine maintenance have the ability to leave customers open to using an alternative supplier if they cannot access the service they want, when they want it.
In the age of social media it is all too easy for disgruntled customers to head to Twitter or Facebook to let the world know about their negative experience with your brand. A few recent examples from Twitter below:
Companies are spending an increasing amount of time and budget on handling outages and customer communications via Twitter and other social platforms to make sure they keep customers informed and onside during both planned and unplanned outages:
This ties in very closely to our third reason for prioritising Database Availability – reputational damage (more on that in a later blog).
A common stat about customer retention is that it is around 5-6 times cheaper to retain an existing customer than to generate a new customer. With that in mind it is vital for organisations to put a value on what a lost customer means to their business. Planning for outages, whether expected or unexpected is essential to minimise loss of customers.
Find out more in our white paper or take a look at our Database Availability consultancy services.