Nothing is more confusing to your customers than when you say one thing and don’t do it. Particularly if, to the customer, you appear to be changing your mind with every decision.
As humans, we look for patterns to help us know what to expect and your customers definitely find comfort in knowing what to expect.
Surely your company has policies that help govern certain transactions. To be effective, these must be consistently and lovingly enforced with customers.
The last time I tried to order from zazzle.com, I purchased three identical shirts.
After a day of processing, I got an email notifying me that there was a problem with my order.
One of my three identical shirts had been rejected for not complying with the terms of service.
How can just one be in violation? Aren’t they all the same?
Either all shirts should have been rejected or none of them.
And if I wanted the approved shirts, I’d have to start the process over from scratch and go through the entire checkout process again.
I didn’t re-buy the shirts nor have I bought from zazzle.com since.
When you send conflicting messages to your customers, they get extremely confused. Confusion leads to frustration. Frustration leads to anger. Anger leads to you not getting their money.
To avoid this conundrum, your company needs consistently enforced rules.
Every customer and every transaction with you should have that reassuring and comfortable consistency that customers expect.
The exceptions to an ordinary transaction particularly need special care. These are the customers that are already on edge because things didn’t go as expected.
Be consistent. Explain why something is the way it is. Help the customer pick up where they left off without having to do rework.