How Important is Excellent Customer Service?
Offering virtual customer services to our clients, you would expect the Prontus Team to tell you how important excellent customer service is! But it’s more than just us saying so. For business in all industries and sectors, on the high street and virtually, customer service has never been more important.And in these difficult economic times, it could be the springboard your business needs.
How to does poor customer service make a customer feel?
Think of a time when your expectations were not met. How did you feel? Unhappy, frustrated, disappointed, and possibly angry. Maybe you were so unhappy with what had just happened that you told someone about it or left an online review.
Now think of a time when you received good customer service. How did you feel? Happy, grateful, and pleased. Maybe you were so impressed with the service you received, you told someone about it. Perhaps you were so blown away that you left a 5-star review for the business.
Both of these scenarios say a lot because customer service is all about the feels. How a customer feels is important because it fuels them to act - that could be to buy and buy more or again from you. It could be to recommend or refer people to your business (or not as the case may be).
Excellent customer service is about the proverbial ‘extra mile’ and in an economy where every sale feels hard-won, it takes on even more importance. So in answer to the question posed in the title, customer service is important. But what does this mean in practice?
In a nutshell, great customer service means people come back again and again. They become your biggest fans and your best customers.
Excellent customer service is… Responsive
It takes months to a find a customer… seconds to lose one.
Vince Lombardi
We’ve all been there - you have a question that needs a quick answer and yet, you can’t get through to anyone. If someone has a question that needs answering before they buy, you need to get on it - and quickly.
But that doesn’t mean just saying anything to clinch the sale…
Training - employees and virtual assistants need a clear understanding of your products or services, what they do and don’t do.
Escalate - there are times when someone will not know the answer and rather than ‘make it up, agents need to know when to escalate the query.
Roadmap - signpost where agents and employees can get the information that they need. But you also need to make sure that this is kept up to date as your business, products and services change.
Deliver on promises - there’s no harm is saying to a customer you’ll get back to them but you need to make sure that you do.
Excellent customer service means… Actively Listening
Good customer service costs less than bad customer service.
Sally Gronow
We say are listening but in reality, we miss a lot of someone is saying. Whether it is a phone conversation or a face-to-face situation, actively listening is key - what is it that the customer is really saying? What is their complaint? What are they asking? What do they need or want?
In-person active listening is about picking up on non-verbal clues but these skills are transferable in other customer service situations, such as live chat. Good practice is to check your understanding with the customer when using live chat, essential because you won’t have the non-verbal clues to pick up on. The same is true for active listening on the phone. You’ll need to confirm your understanding and give clues to the caller that you are listening and engaged.
Excellent customer service is… Gathering Feedback (and acting on it!)
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Bill Gates
An integral ingredient of excellent customer service is feedback. How did customers find the experience of contacting your business? Is there something that can improve the experience? What didn’t they like?
But here’s The Big Question: what are you going to do about it?
Feedback is only valuable if you act on what you are being told. If customers have the same gripe - it takes ages to find your phone number and when they do call, no one answers - what will you do to improve this?
If an agent is getting consistent high quality feedback and praise from customers, what do you do? Let it go or celebrate the fact?
Pass on the compliments and act on the negatives.
Excellent customer service is… Accessible
Even your most loyal customers always have a choice about where to take their business.
Marilyn Suttle
Are they on social media and direct messages? Are they on live chat or do they prefer to call? Maybe they want to submit an email ticket asking for help?
Everyone has different preferences as to how they contact a company but it can also depend on your industry, and the expectations that customers have.
For some companies, live chat would make sense - a quick question or conversation with an agent brings about the solution. But in other instances where confidential information needs to checked or shared, live chat may not be the right solution.
Some companies funnel their customers into one or two channels, whilst others have a myriad of ways customers can contact them including:
Direct email
Email ticketing system
Helplines
WhatsApp or other instant messaging
Live chat
Contact forms
In-person help desks
There are other means of getting information to customers too such as online tutorials or help video, as well as responsive FAQs.
Whichever option or options you choose make sure it is accessible to your customers. No one wants to fall down a rabbit hole on the internet looking for a contact number or email address. People become frustrated and that means poor reviews.
Excellent customer service is… Kindness
In our opinion, there isn’t always enough kindness in the world.
When a customer contacts one of our clients and they speak with us, we do our best to resolve their problem in one step. We are great believers in one-step customer service solutions.
And every query, grips or concern is important. In the grand scheme of things, finding the tracking number for a parcel that hasn’t left the warehouse yet because they ordered 10 minutes ago or ‘which colour option is better?’ may not be super important but the customer, it is.
Whether the product bought is thousands of pounds or a subscription that is a mere few pounds a month, people want it to deliver what they want and expect. When it doesn’t, the result is disappointment.
Just how important is customer service?
If it was on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being important it would be 15. Customer service is both an art and a skill. It takes patience and time, it takes humility and kindness but also knowledge and confidence. It can be taught with time to hone the skills. How do customers describe your customer service?
