Quality Customer Service – Why It Is Important
In a customer-experience-driven world, the customer service and support team’s role has grown more critical.
Customer satisfaction is the underpinning factor in customer experience. A customer should feel good about doing business with the product or service provider.
Most successful businesses recognize the importance of providing outstanding customer service.
Wikipedia defines Customer service as ‘the provision of service to customers before, during, and after a purchase.’
Most customer service will be delivered in-store, but if the product or service being purchased is more complex, customer service can also include planning, installation, training, troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product.
Good customer service is making the provision of a range of services offered to the customer before, during, and after purchasing enjoyable.
Courteous and empathetic interaction with a trained customer service representative can mean the difference between losing or retaining a customer.
Behind the scenes at most companies are people who never meet or greet the people who buy their products. The customer service representatives are the ones who have direct contact with the buyers. The buyers’ perceptions of the company and the product are shaped in part by their experience in dealing with that person.
Offering fantastic customer service is crucial if you want to retain customers and grow your business. Customers are the essential element to all companies, and looking after them is imperative for businesses’ success.
Customer service is critical to competing effectively.
In the past, people chose which companies they did business with based on price or the product or service offered, but today the overall experience is often the driver.
“89% of companies now expect to compete mostly based on customer experience.”— GARTNER RESEARCH
Having excellent customer service is of utmost importance to a company in that it creates loyal customers, which can only be made through customer satisfaction. The main factor for the success of a business is customer loyalty.
Moreover, there will be a wide range of referrals, as loyal customers are bound to tell others about the excellent service they had received; what customers and potential customers say publicly about a company’s products and services matters a great deal. According to a study conducted by Dimensional Research and Zendesk, 90% of participants said positive reviews about a company persuaded them to purchase from that company.
This will, on its part, lead to a corresponding growth and success of a business.
Customers are willing to pay more for a better experience.
Focusing on the customer experience isn’t just the latest trend — it’s also a smart business move. It turns out that making every touchpoint great doesn’t just make customers love you; it can also increase your profits. Surveys have shown that 86% of consumers would pay more for a better customer experience.
Creating loyalty from offering excellent customer service is one of the most critical ways to retain your customers and grow your business faster. It can also be a potent competitive edge.
It’s no surprise that as today’s social, mobile consumers have grown accustomed to getting what they want, when they want it, their expectations have risen accordingly. In fact, in a recent poll, 82% of CEOs reported that customer expectations of their companies were “somewhat” or “much” higher than they were three years ago. It’s more important than ever to support customers on every channel from day one and establish what good customer service looks like internally and externally.