Good customer service is key to making your business a success, whether that’s making sure you know your product inside out, communicating clearly in a friendly, helpful manner or going out of your way to make your customer’s experience with your business as simple and valuable as possible. A conversational commerce platform can allow for clear communication throughout the purchasing process, so you can improve efficiency and elevate your customer’s overall experience. Read on to find out more.
What is customer service?
Customer service is a crucial element when it comes to all customer-facing businesses. Good customer service means you can help your customers with any queries that they might have through clear and concise communication, as well as helping them to rectify any issues that they might be experiencing with a product or service. There are a few factors that should all play a key part in providing high-quality service like being friendly, going out of your way to help customers, knowing your product, and having an idea of how to fix any issues, as well as listening and communicating consistently throughout your customer’s experience.
If the customer service provided throughout your business is not up to scratch, this can have a detrimental effect on your reputation, which can eventually lead to a loss of income and a lack of loyal customers – if you want to make it a success, good customer service is key. Below, we’ll look at some of the ways that bad customer service could have a damaging impact on your business.
Loss of profits
Would you go back to a company that provided you with bad customer service? A lot of us would say no – if you have a bad experience with a company, maybe their staff aren’t attentive or seem uninterested, or maybe they’re hard to get a hold of – you wouldn’t keep going back to spend your hard-earned money with them. The more dissatisfied the customer, the fewer profits you will bring in, as customers will decide to take their money elsewhere, somewhere that can and will treat them as they’d hoped. Loss of profits means you will eventually not be able to run your business effectively, and this could ultimately lead to failure.
Loss of customers
Along with your loss of profits, bad service could also result in loss of customers. If you don’t treat your customers how they would expect to be treated, with a friendly, empathetic, and helpful attitude, they will vote with their feet, and will not continue to use your company. And a loss for your company means a gain for another. Word of mouth is an important part of retaining your customers of the present and the future. Bad customer service means your disgruntled customer is more likely to tell their friends and family to not bother using your product or service either!
High turnover of staff
If some employees are not pulling their weight in terms of customer service, your hard-working employees are going to bear the brunt of their mistakes and will have to work to pick up their slack. Your best workers can become resentful if they are having to make up for others that aren’t providing the same level of service, or because they’re working in a company that has low morale, and often angry customers. If good workers become fed up and leave, there will be no one left in the company to provide a good service, and as previously mentioned, your loss could be a competitor’s gain.
A damaged reputation
Overall, if you consistently provide bad customer service that does not meet your customer’s needs, you are going to get a bad reputation. Word of mouth travels fast – you may end up with a bad name, which can affect all the above, staff, current and future customers as well as your profit. Customers are more likely to leave a negative review than they are a positive one, and if this is displayed online for all to see, future customers or clients are going to be put off from the start. You should make sure that you do all you can to address any customer service issues so that you can provide high-quality, helpful, and insightful service to anyone that chooses to use your product or service.
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