Why Great Customer Service is Critical to Business Success

“Customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations”: John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

If there is one word that all organizations should keep top-of-mind, then it’s ‘customer’. For any enterprise, putting in maximum effort and offering service with a smile is mandatory in the increasingly competitive world of business.

When it comes to satisfying customers’ needs, you have to go the extra mile.

Companies that don’t take customer service seriously suffer

According to one report, each year US-based companies lose around $41 Billion collectively because of bad customer support.

Apart from the monetary losses, there is also a risk of failing to attract new customers or even retain existing ones, if customers’ needs are left unfulfilled.

If you run a business, investing time, money, energy, and resources into providing proper customer support to all your clients is an absolute necessity.

Let’s find out the main reasons why providing top-notch customer service is vital for a business to succeed.

1. It generates goodwill, trust, and loyalty

Being courteous to one customer indirectly advertises how you deal with all your customers. This can have an impact on your brand image, encouraging more people to shop with you.

There is a 60% to 70% probability of selling to an existing customer, against a 5% to 20% probability of selling to a new one: Marketing Metrics

From the above statistics, it’s clear how crucial loyal customers are to an organization. Providing excellent service to your consumers generates goodwill, not only with that particular person, but within their circle of family and friends.

They become a brand advocate for your business organically, helping bump up your loyalty points in the market.

2. Faster, better solutions produce positive results

If you have a competent support team at your disposal, that helps when it comes to serving your shoppers efficiently. The number of cases your team solves per day will grow, and even real-time solutions become a possibility.

The quicker you can provide customers with solutions to their queries, the higher your chances of achieving business growth.

41% of people need a quick response to their e-mails: Forrester Research Inc. 2008

Consumers expect you to act quickly and answer their questions. In fact, as per a survey conducted by American Express, people hate being put on hold or told to call back when there is no quick remedy available with a support team.

With this in mind, it’s vital your team works hard to solve issues swiftly.

3. You gain the upper hand on your competition

“Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.” – Kate Zabriskie

Happy customers = more business (70% of satisfied consumers will trade with you again)

Unhappy customers = less business (91% of dissatisfied customers will never transact with you again) Source: Lee Resources

The equation above is clear enough. If you provide exceptional customer care, you will get more orders—and extra recommendations.

However, fail to do so, and you will not only anger customers, but lose out on their business as well—most likely to your competitors.

Providing good customer support gives you the upper hand.

Remember that positive word of mouth has the power to influence other consumers to join you. So, if you provide excellent customer service to one person, you actually win the race to influence their friends and family.

4. Providing the best experiences encourages business growth

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

It requires 12 positive consumer experiences to mitigate one negative one: Source

If your shoppers are happy, this puts a smile on the face of the whole organization. Providing the best experience to your consumers makes your investors, business partners, suppliers, employees, and cash registers happy, too.

The notion is quite straightforward—the more you invest time and money in satisfying your users, the more chances you have of creating organizational growth, and with it, profit and revenue.

With a happy and healthy client base, you attract more investment, open up more segments, branches, shops/offices, and ultimately cover more areas than ever before.

So much comes down to how you serve your customers!

5. Customers want you to provide them with extra care

86% of customers will pay extra for a better a customer experience: Source

Customers will happily part with their cash if they believe you can provide them with the incentives to do so. They don’t just want a good experience, they need it!

With so many companies failing to provide customers the high level of engagement and experience they expect, you can gain a real advantage by getting this right.

Simply being good is not enough these days, customers want the best, and that’s just what your company will have to be if it wants to succeed.