The Essence of Customer Service.
Customer service is the service provided to customers before, during and after purchasing and using goods and services. Good customer service is directly related to client satisfaction. If your client is not satisfied, you haven’t provided good services. In fact, customer service analysis during the last decade says that you need to actually delight customers, not just satisfy them. We often ask the question why customers are considered as the King and the best services should be offered to them. Well, there are several reasons for it.
1. Substitution – Customers have many options. They will prefer to opt for alternatives if they are not satisfied with the service.
2. Repurchase Factor– Its customer service that customers will remember and it’s the indicator of how likely a customer will repurchase our product &services.
3. Reduces negative Word of mouth– According to McKinsey (a global business advisor firm) an unhappy customer tells between 9-15 people about their experience. In fact, 13% of unhappy customers tell over 20 people about their experience which can have a very bad impact on your business.
4. Cost effective– Customer service is cost effective. It’s more expensive to acquire customers than to retain existing customers.
5. Customer Wow is a competitive advantage-Customer service is a disruptive and sustainable competitive advantage—we’ve all seen that companies can rise to great heights on Customer Wow.
6. New business Opportunities– While listening to your customers closely i.e. what they actually want or expecting from you, you can develop new business opportunities.
7. Relationships-Get to know the customer’s preferences, likes and dislikes. Learning customers’ names and addressing them by their first names is an effective way to build a professional relationship with customers. Customers want to feel needed and accepted; this is part of good customer service.
In short, Customer service is vital to the overall health of your business. It takes so little effort to have effective and friendly customer service. With a little extra effort, your business can soon be reaping the benefits of top-notch customer service.