Is Customer Service Your Priority?

5 August 2014

Too many companies think that business success is all about aggressive marketing – spend a bundle, get your message out there and wait for customers to flock to your brand. However, without a great customer service team in place, you may be losing customers as quickly as you win them. Given that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing one, delivering the best possible customer service will also deliver great savings for your business.

Poor Service Is Still the Norm

With the economic advantages of excellent customer service undeniable, surely every company is making it a priority these days? Surprisingly, that’s not the case. A YouGov poll found that 99% of customers have experienced frustration when dealing with a call centre, while 8 in 10 customers have ceased doing business with a company because of a poor customer service experience. Poor service could be the result of staff shortages, poor training, technical problems and more. However, the result is the same – your business loses its most precious commodity: customers.

With more information and more choices available, it’s easier than ever for customers to shop elsewhere. And don’t imagine the Brits will simply grin and bear poor service. According to research from NewVoiceMedia, UK shoppers are even more likely than their American counterparts to leave an organisation due to poor service. Around £12 billion gets transferred annually from one UK firm to another as a result of customers switching because of poor service. That’s a slice worth competing for.

Stand Out from the Crowd

The fact that so many companies deliver poor customer service is bad news for customers but good news for your business. Why? Because by providing high-quality service for your own customers, you’ll really stand out from your competitors. As online retail squeezes profit margins, trying to beat your competitors on price alone may prove a race to the bottom. However, you can compete – and win – in terms of delivering the best possible customer experience.

Research shows that customers not only want better quality customer service but are prepared to pay more for it. As such, investing in customer service can pay off both in the long term through increased customer retention and in the short term through modest price increases. Building a loyal customer base is the key to long-term success. Loyal customers will keep buying from you without you needing to invest more on marketing to them. Even better, they’ll entice their work colleagues, friends and family to shop with you too – doing your marketing work for you!

Call Handling

If you use a contact centre to take care of your customer service, make sure it’s equipped with well-trained and professional agents. You should also be making the most of technology to resolve customer enquiries quickly and efficiently – whether by phone, email or mobile platforms. While call handling time (CHT) is an important indicator of how efficient your contact centre is, your business success will depend more on the number of happy customers than the volume of calls handled. Taking longer over calls to resolve issues to the customer’s full satisfaction will deliver better long term business results.

According to NewVoiceMedia, British customers are willing to wait, provided their call is dealt with properly. In fact, just 16% of Brits would hang up after 5 minutes on hold compared to 22% of Americans. Perhaps surprisingly, British shoppers are also more likely to complain directly about poor service, giving the organisation a chance to resolve the issue. Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to complain via social media instead with US customers twice as likely to post negative reviews online.

This research shows that British customers, in general, will give companies a reasonable opportunity to make amends when an issue arises. However, if the company disappoints in its response, customers are likely to take their business elsewhere – and because British shoppers spend more with each firm than US customers, the financial cost of losing that customer will be higher.

Emotional Engagement

Whereas price, quality and delivery used to be the main areas where businesses competed against each other, customer service is fast becoming the new battleground for shoppers’ hearts and minds. While price, quality and delivery have become less of a differentiator, there’s still a wide gulf between the best and worst customer experiences delivered by different companies.

Excellent customer service is not only about professional call handling but also about emotional engagement. Customers don’t just want their issues resolved – they also want to be listened to and valued as customers. If you can genuinely connect with customers on an emotional level, they’ll hang up feeling not just satisfied but happy – and happy customers are likely to remain loyal to your brand.

Providing a customer experience that not only meets expectations but exceeds them will help you build a loyal customer base as well as poach customers from your competitors. If customer service isn’t a top priority for your business, it’s time you made it one!

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