It may be tempting as a business to add an extra fee or charge to your customer’s bill in the name of a service fee or a credit card transaction fee.
However, these fees and little extra charges have a serious impact on your customer relationships. Here are two key reasons why you must not nickel and dime your customers.
Maintain Trust
Hidden or surprise charges and fees erode your customer’s confidence and trust in you. These fees must be avoided.
Your relationship with your customer is based on trust. He trusts that you will deliver what you promise for the agreed upon price. If you slip in extra caveats or fees on top of what has been agreed upon, the customer will become suspicious. He will think, “If they added this one fee, what else are they doing that I didn’t know about?” Trust begins to dissolve and your customer will likely find a replacement for your services the next time they are required.
Maintain trust with your customer and don’t nickel and dime them.
Be Different
I won a Starbucks gift card last year and was surprised at the fine print on the back of the card:
This card does not expire nor does Starbucks charge fees for any reason.
I bet if you checked the back of any gift card you have in your posession, that the fine print will not be so pleasant. Most gift cards expire or start to incur a fee after a few months.
Starbucks acts in the best interest of the customer, forgoes scamming a few dollars from customers, and lets the gift cards be used whenever the customer wants.
Surely this gesture helps win more business and encourages even more gift card purchases.
Your company would be wise to do likewise. Buck the trend and don’t follow what your competitors are doing. If they are charging extra fees, go the opposite direction and differentiate yourself from the crowd. Your customers will notice and thank you with repeat business.