The ROI of Customer Service Software for B2B Growth

Just because a company offers customer support, especially when offering this support to other companies, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing unless the support offered is of a high quality. Some executives look at customer support ROI and see a lack of results, leading them to assume it is a cost center rather than a profit center. Although this may be the case it doesn’t have to be.

So how can companies prove the ROI of customer support and use it to facilitate B2B growth? Here are some quick facts to get you started, looking at the true cost of offering poor customer support and the true value of great customer service…

The cost of poor support

-- By 2020, 89% of global businesses will compete mainly on customer experience

-- USA – The estimated annual cost of customers switching service providers due to poor customer service is $1.6 trillion (Accenture)

-- UK – 60% of consumers prefer a balance of price and service during their customer experience and are not always willing to sacrifice lower levels of service for a lower price (UKSCI)

-- 70% of customers who stopped doing business with a particular brand said it was due to a poor customer experience (Pew)

-- 51% of B2B companies avoid vendors for at least two years after a bad experience with them (Dimensional Research)

-- It’s approximately seven times more expensive for companies to attract new customers than keep existing ones (Harvard Business School)

-- 67% of customer churn is preventable if the customer issue is resolved during the first issue engagement (ThinkJar)

The Rewards of Great Customer Service

-- 60% of consumers have increased their spending with a company after a really good response to a bad experience (Temkin Group)

-- 65% of companies have been able to successfully upsell or cross-sell to existing customers (ThinkJar)

-- 73% of consumers will recommend a brand to others if they are satisfied by their customer experience (SDL)

-- 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience (Walker)

So what can companies learn from these ROI of customer service facts? Moving forward, marketing may still be powerful and ever-evolving in the customer acquisition cycle but the trusty referral remains extra important, especially in B2B. By impressing current customers with an exceptional customer experience you not only create upselling and cross-selling opportunities, it is also key to seeing strong referral leads in the future. The best thing about referral leads is they are usually highly qualified and more likely to convert into customers.

Customers place a large emphasis on their customer experience so it's essential for thriving companies to look beyond the traditional sales cycle and differentiate themselves from their competition in a world where reputation and reviews are prominent and plentiful. Peer-generated information can be found about nearly anything online, and the more work you put in to your support reputation as a company the better you’ll look not only to current customers but to prospects as well. 

*For more interesting stats on the ROI of customer support, check out our infographic: