Make Customer Service Your Biggest Advantage in 2023

5 Ways to Make Customer Service Your Biggest Advantage

Customer service is one of the key elements of a business’s success. 89% of customers say they are more likely to make a repeat purchase after a positive customer service experience, while 61% say they would cut ties with a brand after a poor experience. Companies with low customer satisfaction levels suffer from bad retention rates, which costs corporations up to $75 billion annually.  

Although more and more companies are taking their business online, this does not reduce the importance of customer service for a business’s success. In fact, more and more customers expect omnichannel customer service, that is quick, easy, and personalized, with simple tasks automated. 

More than just driving retention and loyalty, customer service is also a competitive advantage for your business: according to Hubspot, at least 67% of customer churn is preventable through improvements in customer service. Preventing churn is crucial for your business, as it costs 6-7 times more to attract new customers than to retain existing ones. 

So, how can you make sure you are using customer service to your advantage? 

#1: Make sure to properly define Customer Service

Before trying to find innovative ways of providing service to customers, find the definition of what exceptional and professional customer service is to your company. This provides a clear outline of what is expected of your team and how they can deliver day in, day out. 

This should embody what your organization stands for and the true purpose behind its conception. Having weekly discussions in your team is an excellent way to achieve this and stay updated in your current ethos. 

This should also include an overview of the different channels where customer service and customer interactions take place. Make sure to clearly understand how these channels differ, and how they are integrated. More and more customers expect an omnichannel solution, meaning that the different channels are seamlessly integrated with each other. 

#2: Utilize new technologies to make customer service more interesting

With all advancements in technology, customer service has also adapted. This can come in the form of chatbots and IVAs (Intelligent Virtual Assistants). With a growing customer base, providing customized support for each individual query will be very difficult, due to the sheer time and energy needed.  

Most companies will not have native language support for customers in geographies like Asia and Africa due to the vast number of languages. Using chatbots, especially multilingual ones, will help provide multiple language support in the language they feel most comfortable in. In fact, Intercom’s research showed that 29% of businesses lost clients due to a lack of native language support.  

With the sharp rise in e-commerce, chatbots can increase on-demand feedback to help customers make informed decisions and improve confidence in the company. In fact, according to Hubspot, 71% of customers already expect brands to offer customer support via chatbot. Providing this feature will improve your global audience and increase sales, save time and money on training unnecessary employees, and increase retention.  

#3: Implement ways to measure it

Providing excellent customer service is redundant without knowing its impact, which areas to improve in, and how to utilize your resources better. Metrics are ways to measure the performance of your customer service team and their effectiveness in providing relevant and useful information. It is crucial to see how these metrics change over time, and where improvements are needed. 

Some common performance indicators are CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score), where customers give feedback and the percentage of satisfied customers is calculated; CES (Customer Effort Score), a quantitative measure of the effort a customer exerts to resolve an issue; NPS (Net Promoter Score), most often the best metric, used to identify the percentage of customers that would recommend the product (promotors) and those that will discourage others (detractors). 

Tip: Your NPS is calculated by asking customers the question “how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” The NPS is then calculated taking the percentage of promoters (those who answered 9-10), and subtracting the percentage of detractors (those who answered 0-6). (Passives are anyone who answered 7-8). 

#4: Stay accountable for the data that is received

Once you have that data, it’s important to use it in the right way. The data can help your team understand their current abilities to deliver feedback and where they need to adjust so they can improve their execution. Make sure that your team is aware of the importance of data, and has access to it, such as through a CRM or helpdesk software. 

This cycle of reporting data, improving and implementing this data will make sure to keep the whole team motivated and constantly trying to achieve the best metrics. This can also create a culture of holding everyone accountable to help deliver the best customer experience possible. 

#5: Make sure to highlight your excellent customer service

It is important to get customer feedback and testimonials to prove to your customers and any potential clients that you are able to compete as a business with all the market leaders in your industry. 

This can add character to your company and improve the morale of your customer service team. These marketing techniques will help customers relate to the high quality customer service you provide as there are reliable and trustworthy faces behind the scenes making sure their experience is smooth and enjoyable. 

Testimonials are key for a brand to build trust with its customers. According to BigCommerce, 71% of customers say positive testimonials increase their trust in a business. Remember that you only have a short amount of time to keep a visitor’s attention on your website (roughly 15 seconds), so make sure your testimonials are impressive and prominently placed. 

Takeaways

No matter what your business is, and who your customers are, don’t forget the importance of customer service! However you provide it, your customers want quick responses, a personalized feeling, and simple solutions. The tips in this article will help you deliver this and strengthen your business. 

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Read More

https://bloomfire.com/blog/cs-cost-of-poor-customer-service/

https://customers.com.au/how-to-make-your-customer-service-your-biggest-marketing-advantage/

https://www.qualtrics.com/uk/experience-management/customer/service-metrics/