The famous saying goes “it takes years to build a reputation but just moments to ruin it.” This quote effectively addresses the importance of keeping a customer happy and satisfied. Customer service is a term that you might have come across often while purchasing a product or even while promoting a product. Since customer service and the success of a business are codependent, businesses are now focusing more on delivering excellent service to their customers. Customer service is the way a business is able to serve a customer, which indirectly reflects your brands values.
Research suggests that around 60% of organizations consider customer service as the top most priority for their businesses. It is an eye opener that well established brands give way more importance to customer service, because they know what it is like to have a happy customer to your brand. What is your definition of customer service?
With time the focus of businesses has shifted to customer service. Businesses go out of the way to hire the right people for their customer service team, people who are skilled with the ability to handle and help customers. Although the meaning of customer service can vary from the nature and domain of businesses in which they are dealing with, the main motive of customer service is how easily you are able to solve a problem related with your product/services to ease out your customer’s burden. A brilliant example of this is Amazon go, a shopping mart without a checkout counter. Amazon go, with the help of artificial intelligence has made the shopping experience much more easier for its customers, wherein everything is technology driven, and customers are saved from the waiting queues at the checkout. Amazon has given a whole new meaning to customer service, where your customers are at ease, and have been saved from the long queues of checkout. There are many customer service tools that offer an exceptionally diligent and flawlessly charming suite of live chat services that are sure to enhance customer satisfaction. Several popular Live chat tools like Help Scout, LiveChat, DeskMoz, Chatlio, Olark, etc. exist. Business Outsource Live Chat services through many agencies to ensure seamless customer service.
How important is customer service for a business? Marketing of a business was initially based on brand promotion and improving the brand quality and the services. Having a group of customers that are happy and satisfied with your products is like having top rating for your business.
Here is how customer service can positively effect your business:
Deal with complaints
One of the best things you can do as a businessman or marketer is value negative feedback. Dealing with complaints isn’t easy, but you must understand that responding to these complaints and feedback positively is imperative. Leverage negative comments and feedback to improve your products and services. Offer sincere apologies to people who are disappointed or unhappy with your service and promise to do better in the future. The first rule of customer service is to accept that the customer is king indeed.
Maintain brand reputation
Maintaining your brand reputation is essential for businesses and brands of all natures. As a marketer, your duty does not end once you have made a sale. Instead, that’s the point in the process when your business must pay attention to customer satisfaction and trouble free journey for your customers. A happy and satisfied customer adds a huge value to your brand and is very likely to return to your brand. Maintaining your brand reputation by engaging with your audience, making them aware of your ethics, values and history will help you win more customers in the future while retaining your existing customer base.
Speaks volumes for your business
Brands that value customer satisfaction and happiness are considered superior. How your brand deals with your customers’ complaints or feedback speaks volumes about your brand to your users and non-users both. The way you respond to a customer, the efficiency with which you solve a customer query, all of this reflects your brand values.
Whether a business is an SME or is an MNC, they all face the brunt of angry customers. But this is where customers make a notion about your business depending on how you handle the situation.
Higher conversion rate
The overall conversion rate of a business is effected by the type of service you offer to the customers. Hence it is vital in generating business for your brand. If at some point in time, your brand was unable to deliver good customer service, your customers might take to the Internet to rant and comment about your poor service. Chances are, your sales will come crashing down. Similarly, customer who are happy and satisfied with your service leave positive comments and feedback on your social media profiles, which has a positive effect on your sales.
Customer retention
Great customer service will result in maximum customer retention. Growing the existing customer base is as important as retaining the customers. A brand that has excellent customer strength, can easily retain the customers. With time the customers develop a sense of trust and retaining such customers becomes easy.
The way you deal with customers decides whether a customer is likely to use your brand again. Very often, this depends on the first experience that a customer had with your brand. Satisfaction of customers is important for a business, because only a satisfied customer will retain with a business.
Problem solver
Every brand or business has something valuable to offer to their customers and it is mostly a solution to a problem. Customer service exists so that brands can engage with their customers in case of a problem. The purpose of customer service teams are to make sure customers are well educated about a product or service and are not facing any problems in the use of that particular product or service. A great way to provide excellent customer service is to give your customers tips, tricks, DIY techniques etc. For example, Nykaa, an online beauty brand, shares beauty DIY tips for its customers without the customers asking for it. This is enough for those passionate about beauty to cling to Nykaa.
To conclude, if you’re a marketer or businessman, understanding the importance of customer service is essential for your brands success! Nothing is more important than keeping your customers happy and satisfied and the way to do this is by providing desirable and excellent customer care service.
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