My Customers Are Ghosting Me, What Do I Do?

A guest article by Carmel Granahan, Head of Customer Success and founder of Unify Success

We’ve all heard of Ghosting in dating. The guy/girl you’ve been messaging suddenly stops contacting you, replying back to your messages and answering your calls.

And you’re left at a loss as to what went wrong. So what do you do?

You may (if you’re courageous enough) ask them why. Or you may not. And that’s the thing you typically blame yourself–you start analysing the past conversations, what did you say, did you offend them?

Sometimes you’re left never knowing where you went wrong.

You’ll never know as they haven’t told you why.

The same happens in business. While it’s known to be very common in recruiting– you never hear back after interviewing for a role, it happens in customer success too.

You had an impressive hand-off call with one of your clients.

You exchanged emails, conducted a successful discovery call, aced your product demo, they were excited and re-iterated how awesome your product/service was. And then, there it was—silence.

Days and weeks have slipped away, and your client seems to have vanished. They’re unresponsive to your phone calls, emails and requests to have a virtual meeting.

Enter the phenomenon of being “ghosted,” where communication suddenly ceases, much like a ghost’s presence fading into obscurity.

Just like in any personal relationship, the experience of client ghosting is all too real, and it’s painful.

The situation becomes even more disheartening when you find yourself grappling with unanswered questions – why have they not replied? Are they still using our software? Are they unhappy? And the sense of disappointment is deepened even further by what follows— the customer cancels.

Now this has a serious knock-on effect on the company like:

Let’s investigate some of the possible reasons why your customers have gone quiet in your SaaS Business and what you can do about it….

1. A busy workload

   Customers might be overwhelmed with their own responsibilities or be under pressure to meet a specific deadline, causing them to deprioritize interactions with their Customer Success Manager (CSM). They may ghost simply due to their workload, not necessarily dissatisfaction.

2. A change in business processes

   A change in the internal processes of the company, or company goals can lead to a shift in priorities, making them feel their current engagement is no longer as relevant as it once was. They may disengage without proper communication.

3. Outgrew your product/looking at competitors!

   As businesses grow, their requirements may change. If customers find your product doesn’t meet their expanding needs, they may start to explore competitor offerings without prior notice. It’s critical to conduct a Customer 360 prior to engaging to try and identify the cause of the silence before reaching out. For example, it could be due to a feature promise that has never surfaced and is preventing them from doing their job better. The lack of communication or updates has tipped them over the edge.

4. Change in personnel

   Your Point of Contact has left – when your key contact you’ve been interacting with leaves the company, you sometimes don’t know who else to turn to. It’s important not to rely on just one person in an organization but try to get to know at least 2-3 other stakeholders so you can turn to them if your main contact suddenly leaves.

5. Poor user experience

   If customers encounter difficulties using your product or face technical issues, their frustration can stop them using it and cause them to lose interest in it altogether. This could be a support bug that has been outstanding for a long period of time without any update that has led them to get frustrated.

6. Poor Customer-Customer Success Manager Relationship

   A strained or negative relationship with the CSM can lead to customers avoiding interactions. It’s critical to get the relationship off on the right foot and build up a good rapport with your customer by asking the right questions in your discovery calls. Getting to know the customer on a professional level as well as on a personal level is important. For example, asking them how their weekend went or finding out their hobbies can do wonders for your relationship.

7. Not seeing the perceived value

   If customers feel they aren’t getting the expected benefits from your product or service, they may switch off and decide it can’t do what they’d like it to. Here, you need to make sure that you set customer expectations from the beginning–find out the problems they want your software to solve and what their expected outcomes are. That way you can tailor your meetings accordingly to make sure they are getting the value they expect.

8. You haven’t convinced them it’s worth their time to meet/chat

   If customers aren’t convinced that interactions with their CSM are valuable, they might skip engagements/meetings altogether. It’s paramount to clearly communicate the purpose of meetings, share relevant insights, and demonstrate the positive impact of your assistance.

If you’re getting ghosted you need to ‘shake things up’. Sending the same ‘Check-in’ email 5 times is clearly not working.

Try the following instead….

1. Look at the Bigger Picture:

• When did you reach out: Consider the timing of your previous interactions. Were they during busy periods for the customer?
• Where did you reach out: Different communication channels have varying effectiveness. Tailor your approach to their preferred channel.
• What did you say: Reflect on your previous messages. Ensure your messaging is relevant and valuable to them. Look for any quick wins you can congratulate them on.
• Bonus for finding out at the beginning what days/times worked best to engage.

2. Conduct a Customer 360

• Review your Customer profile in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) /Customer Success Platform (CSP).
• Review past interactions and engagements.
• Review their objectives set out at the beginning and align your value proposition with them.
• Check for any outstanding support issues or feature release delays which may be impacting them.

3. Engage with them on Social Media

• Follow their company page on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter at the very beginning.
• Connect with them on a personal level on LinkedIn.
• Send them a private message and make it personal.
• Show an interest, follow their page for updates and engage with their posts
• Keep an eye out for company restructures or layoffs or the opposite, funding approvals.
• Keep an eye on any changes in their roles.
• Interact with the content they post.

4. Be Specific:

• Instead of a vague request, propose a specific action like booking a meeting or addressing a particular issue. For example, send them a short email with the subject: “Can I book 15 minutes with you on Thursday?” or “Issue with XYZ – I have an update.”

5. Be Proactive

• Pick up the phone and call them, the best that can happen is that you catch them at a good time, have a brief 5-minute conversation and book a 1:1 virtual meeting. The worst, they either don’t answer or answer and say they are busy, in either case, you send a follow-up email.
• Book your next meeting at the end of your current one. This keeps the momentum going and shows commitment.

6. Send them a direct calendar invite

• Make sure to keep the meeting duration short and put a short description with it.

You have nothing to lose at this stage!!!!

Remember, re-engagement is about adding value, showing genuine interest, and personalizing your approach. Each customer is unique, so adapting these strategies based on their preferences and circumstances is crucial. By focusing your communication on THEM not you or your business, you can increase the chances of successfully re-engaging them and retaining them as a long-term loyal customer.