Customer service, from theory to fact!

We all hear that customer service has a very important role to play in your business. But do we know why or how?

The fact is that attracting new customers is five times harder than retaining a current one. Also, A study by American Express found that happy customers tell around eight people about their good experience, while unsatisfied customers complain to 21 different people. Besides, 86% of consumers have stopped buying from a company after a negative experience.

The idea of putting your customers first should stem from management and flow down to every role in your organization. Then, company policies, training, and quotas will be created to serve its customers.

So, to adapt and seize the opportunity of change, brands must rethink customer care along the entire customer journey, from marketing through the post-sales experience.

Why do you need to provide extraordinary customer service?
As mentioned above, customer retention is easier than customer acquisition. Also, word-of-mouth advertising is the kind of advertising that money cannot buy. And, exceptional customer service not only will lead your brand to this kind of advertising but also improves public persona and strengthens your brand.
Last, happy customers spend more!
So, how to provide extraordinary customer service?
First, good service starts with your attitude and employee training. A happy employee is equal to a happy customer, but what does it mean?
Research shows that happy and respectful employees of the organization in which they work, are tending to make more customers happy. So, the right staff will represent your business in a way you find acceptable.
Remember that skills can be taught, but attitude and personality cannot. Set boundaries for interactions with customers to only those employees that can present a positive and helpful response.
So, when you hire right it is almost easy to train them to serve your customer in the best way they can base on the policy your set for your company. Also, make sure you are measuring the customer satisfaction rate. As employees need to understand what the target is so they can help the organization reach its goals.
Regarding the good service, notice that rewarding is a part of a good performance management system and should be part of the cultural organization. So keep in mind that to improve the satisfaction of your customers you should improve the satisfaction of your employees. For example, you can share customer satisfaction data with your employees to let them know they are on the right track and making progress of what you desire.

Second, using data-driven solutions to make accurate decisions. Most companies do not even know what tool should they use. The helpdesk and call center tool should lead your agents to collect your customers with previous actions, support requests, cases, notes, and events. This will also improve the ability to use data, metrics, and reports to help the businesses to get the conclusions they are searching for. Using customer analytics reports will also make improvements in buyer’s performance, helps to map buyer journeys into business activities, and identifying how each channel contributes to results.
Last but not least, be proactive rather than reactive in customer services. Waiting until a customer talks about an issue is not enough. Be proactive in your customer service experience by asking for feedback and finding new ways to improve. Let the customer feels taking care of and their opinion matters so they will never leave you for another opportunity.
This will also lead your business to build a long-term relationship with the customer. This act is as easy as following up a month or so after a customer service email or phone call to see how things are going, creating a more casual, conversational relationship with the customer rather than waiting for them to have a question or problem.

To conclude, customer service acts as an essential part of each business. It is the leading indicator of loyalty, therefore, if you can identify your unhappy clients and reduce their number, you will increase your success rate.
Customer service can be also a very important way of attracting new customers. As today’s customers care about the extra elements they get from buying a product or service, so customer loyalty is heavily dependent on your customer satisfaction through customer service.