It’s generally accepted that customer service is important and that poor customer service will lose a business money, but despite this, you’ll find many businesses letting their customer support slip, and this could be costing them dearly.
So what’s causing this slip in standards? It’s been reported that a lack of training and investment in basic customer service skills can be a contributing factor, while at the same time, reaching for increasingly large sales targets is taking its toll.
Why is customer service so important?
Getting a customer to communicate with your business is expensive – think about your advertising budget, social media presence, SEO work – all of this is done in the hope that a customer will find out about you and ultimately pay for your products or services.
If before that customer makes a purchase the query they made was handled badly, you have lost them, and the cost of bringing them to you in the first place has gone to waste. Similarly, when a customer has a complaint handled badly, you have lost future sales from that once loyal customer, and your competitors will be the ones to benefit. This is where a customer service call center can make or break a business.
The average value of every lost business relationship in the U.S. per year is $289. Looking at it this way, it’s easy to see how sub-par customer experiences can soon start to add up and how rectifying any customer service inadequacies in your business could see a fairly swift improvement in sales.
The good news is, thanks to this kind of research, there’s a turnaround in customer experience happening. Smart businesses realize the return on investment possible from offering customers a great service and you could be with them.
How to improve customer service
When thinking about how to improve your customer service, the first step is setting up a good team, one who cares about your business and the customer. When recruiting, you should look for people who are understanding and good at listening. They need to have a positive attitude and excellent communications skills, as well as being able to remain calm and adapt under pressure.
Even when you have found the ideal candidate, proper training in the processes of your business is a must in order for them to support your customers most effectively.
Even with the best team in the world, with customer communications potentially coming in via phone, email, and social media channels, maintaining a superior standard across all of them becomes a juggling act. To simplify the omnichannel approach, software is available which brings everything into one system, queues up tickets, and offers salient information to the handler at the start of every communication.
To find out more about how you can streamline your customer service procedures, visit Happitu whose software improves customer journeys via their web link.
It’s also important to realize that understanding and improving customer service is an ongoing process. There are always new things to learn, ways you can better understand what your customer wants, and innovative ways to improve what you do.
An American Express survey found that 78% of consumers have backed out of a transaction or failed to make an intended purchase because of sub-par customer service.
In an age where your customers can easily seek out competitors who might offer them a better service, it’s no longer an option to let your customer experience slide.
