Businesses globally are continuously doing their level best to enhance customer service. Indeed, customers are the most important stakeholders in any given concern, and handling them appropriately has become a top priority with competition at its highest.
Therefore, customer service is the other key aspect that enhances retention, upselling and cross-selling. With top-notch customer services, customers become loyalists and eventually become ambassadors, which attracts prospects organically and saves on acquisition costs.
Below are some key reasons why customer service is of utmost importance to any given business.
1. Customer Service Is a Representation of Your Brand
Customer service should be among the core values a business embraces in its operations. How well you handle your customers is a representation of your brand. Conducting thorough research on how you can improve customer service is a key step in evolving your brand into one that is associated with excellent customer service. Carrying out customer surveys or learning the mystery shopping process and implementing it can help you gain valuable insights from two key players: customers and the competition.
Most customers can agree that customer service greatly influences the brand they will be loyal to. While social media presence, shared content, and ads that you run significantly influence how customers perceive you, customer service is what leaves the greatest impression on a customer.
2. Customer Service Enhances Customer Loyalty
When customers are treated right, it is very unlikely that they will switch to competing brands. Businesses that find it hard to invest in customer service and focus on acquisition have higher turnover rates and thus fail to reap the benefits of customer retention. Wonderful customer service implies higher customer lifetime value and consequently more revenue and overall profitability.
As earlier mentioned, investing in customer service greatly reduces acquisition costs which is a plus for any business. Competitors in a given industry can have products or offer services that are not very differentiated. However, you have to step up your efforts for your business to stand out. The human touch is your best bet in getting repeat purchases and loyalty in the long run.
3. Customer Service Helps with Referrals
Studies have shown that word of mouth is more effective in turning a prospect into a paying customer as compared to advertisements or other efforts such as running promotions or enhancing your digital efforts. Customers are likely to share a positive experience with at least six people. A satisfied customer is by all means bound to share their awesome experiences with a brand to family and friends as they want them to have a similar experience.
The beauty about referrals is that they do not cost businesses a dime and result from the brand trust. Exceeding your customers’ expectations in terms of service ensures that they have reasons to spread the word about your business.
4. Customer Service Correlates with Customer Expectations
In this modern era where customers are fully aware of the value they bring to a business, high-quality customer service is expected and demanded of any business. Customers expect that a dedicated and courteous team will deal with the issue whenever they have a query or complaint.
Delays when responding to calls, live chats, or making customers wait for their turns in long queues only serve to tire customers and have them disappear and switch to a brand that embraces the value of customer service. Customers prefer businesses that have an individualistic approach when serving and catering to their needs as opposed to a generic way of resolving customer concerns.
5. Customer Service Supports Customers When Errors Occur
Any business may experience hiccups in its operations, which has the potential to paint it in a bad light. However, a business that has braced itself with a culture of excellent customer service already has brand trust as leverage. Mistakes, therefore, do not lead to customers abandoning you as they trust that it is an error that will be rectified within a relatively short period.
The Bottom Line
While customer service has always been crucial, its importance is at its highest today. Investing in your customer service team and having the necessary tools in place ensures that the best is delivered and customers derive actual value from forming a relationship with your business.
