The dead horse theory: When it's time to dismount for your customer's sake

It could be an outdated marketing campaign, a flagging product line, or an inefficient process, all of which affect the quality of an organisation’s customer experience (CX). 

The theory emphasises abandoning a strategy when it no longer serves its purpose. Instead, we flog the “dead horse” by finding new ridders, changing the horses’ feed, renaming the horse, or forming committees to discuss why the horse is slow. 

Reluctance to let go could stem from, among other factors, business owners’ emotional attachment, fear of admitting failure, and the sunk cost fallacy—the belief that past investments justify continued effort, even when it is clear that the prospects for success remain bleak. 

Ignoring “dead horses” in your business consequently leads to wasted resources, missed opportunities, and low morale among staff. 

The latter has the undesired effect of poor customer service and predictably negative customer experience. 

When businesses focus on “dead horses,” they miss out on opportunities to innovate, grow, and improve, leading to erosion in market share and their competitive edge. 

On the contrary, pausing and recognising when to stop and take a different tangent frees up resources and energy, helping you focus on more productive endeavours. 

The first step towards addressing the “dead horses” in your business is admitting that the CX strategy or process has run its course. 

The biggest red flag is usually manifested in high customer churn rates, whereby the rate of customer retention keeps diminishing despite efforts to mitigate the same. 

It could also manifest in stagnant growth, with your efforts failing to gain traction. You should also know that you are flogging a dead horse if you keep on getting negative feedback from your employees or customers, highlighting issues with a particular product, service, or process. 

You or your team may also tend to stick with the status quo simply because it is “the way we have always done it.” 

By identifying these warning signs, it is easy to nip them in the bud and redirect your resources and efforts elsewhere. 

As alluded to earlier, the sunk cost fallacy is one of the biggest reasons for sticking with obsolete processes or strategies; business owners feel they must justify past investments. 

Focus on future potential instead of dwelling on past investments by evaluating the potential of other strategies to deliver results going forward. 

Another strategy for avoiding the pitfalls of a “dead horse” situation is fostering a culture of adaptability in the customer experience that allows for testing new ideas and quickly discarding those that no longer serve customers.  

More so, leveraging data analytics from customer data helps gain insights into changing behaviours and preferences, enabling quick adaptation of CX strategies.

Organisations should also frequently assess their CX strategies by analysing customer feedback and market trends. A strategy that worked last year may not work today.

- The writer is the founder, The Loop Consulting, and an adjunct lecturer at a local private university