Customers Stay When You Provide Excellent Customer Service
Investing in your customer support team can have a tremendous impact on your bottom line. According to an article posted by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) on August 1st, 2014 by Peter Kriss, customers are more likely to stay with a business that gives them an experience that meets and exceeds expectations.
Providing excellent customer service has always been looked at as “the right thing to do”. However, some executives could argue that it’s more important to focus money and attention on marketing. Before you draw your conclusion, consider this:
- Customers who have a great experience spend 140% more than those who have a negative experience.
- Unhappy customers cost you more by way of your support team’s time, and product returns and refunds.
Although the research is based on only 2 companies, the point is strong – customers with better experiences have a higher probability of staying with you. No matter how you decide to quantify it, there is value in providing an exceptional customer service experience.
The other factor to consider is the added cost that results from a poor customer experience – more calls to customer support, returned products, negative word-of-mouth, etc.
With that in mind, it makes sense to invest in customer-focused support software that improves communication and helps you provide a better customer experience.
When a customer calls and every interaction they’ve ever had with your company is at the fingertips of the agent, it’s much easier for your customer support team to address their needs. This makes for both a happy customer and a happy agent.
In this case, a strong customer database is key. Your customer service software should collect all customer information in one place, easily accessible to your support staff. This means information collected from all channels and all customer tickets.
Collaboration with team members is also important. Your sales, management, and customer support teams all collect important knowledge on every customer account. When they have a common place to share and manage that knowledge, your departments can collaborate to offer a level of service never before possible.
With effective software, you can utilize the same theory of patient care that the famous Mayo Clinic uses: collaboration. Imagine what becoming the Mayo Clinic of service in your industry could do for your bottom line.
