Make Your Customer Services Stand Out

Everyone knows Customer Service is important to business, but have you ever really paused to consider just how much it matters to your success?

We live in the world where everyone has the internet in their pocket. A disgruntled customer can live stream your bad customer services to the entire world while it’s happening.

Here at Eazi-Apps, we worked out just how much Customer Service impacts your bottom line, and why you should ensure your Customer Service team is the best they can be…

Everyone has a customer services horror story, from rude and unhelpful staff, being trapped in a call queue for hours or the ultimate customer services sin; the repairman who never arrives.

An alarming 91% of your customers who have a bad experience with your company will walk away and never look back. If a quarter of your customers have a bad time, most of those people will leave you for good. To put that into figures., if you have 1000 customers, and one quarter of them have a bad experience with your customer services team, you face losing 230 customers.

Customers who have a bad experience with a business will tell at least nine to fifteen of their friends. If they do so using their social media, they’re not just telling their friends, but dozens, even hundreds more followers, too.

This can trigger a cascade of complaints and see a business’ social media page and customer service department overwhelmed by angry customers.

If an incident gets enough traction it could even go viral. Overnight, one customers’ bad experience with your customer service team becomes the only reason anyone knows your company name.

All of this costs UK Businesses £15.3 billion a year in lost custom. The same businesses struggle with high staff turnover, adding to their financial losses.  However, it’s not that hard to make sure you are offering exemplary customer services.

Let’s look at some ways to make those vital improvements;

Make your customer services easy to find and contact. If it’s a space in your store, a page on your website or a tab on your mobile app ensure it’s visible. A customer who has a problem will only get more frustrated if they have to work to tell you about it. It can also send a negative message that you don’t want people to access your customer services department.

Your customer services team should be friendly, ready to help and resilient. Look for staff who can put others at ease and remain calm under pressure. Make a point to ensure they are well trained in both customer relations and your businesses’ inner workings and policies.

Customer services is a difficult job. Being the first contact for unhappy customers is stressful and emotionally draining. Make sure your staff are supported and know they are valued. Incentivise them by rewarding positive interactions with customers.

Don’t drag your feet when it comes to fixing issues. Some businesses wait until disaster strikes before they make changes, and then make short sighted changes to placate the public.

Don’t fall into that trap. If you know there are problems, examine your customer services policy and make those changes before your hand is forced. Retrain staff and rethink the policies that your customers are the most frustrated with.

You don’t have to look far to find news stories about companies who seem actively hostile towards their customers. It’s even easier to see the devastating cost this can have on their market value. But your customers are the life blood of your business and should be treated appropriately.

When rethinking your customer services policy reach out to customers for help in making your changes. Not only will this help you target your changes more efficiently, it shows your customers you value them.

As we discussed, the digital age has empowered consumers like never before. They know their rights and hold business to a higher standard than previous generations. Your customer services has to keep up with this new expectation, and be able to offer the top tier assistance and support consumers are quickly beginning to demand as the standard.

Interested in small business opportunites ? At Eazi-Apps, we respect the years of skills and experience that you possess. Our aim is to build on what you can already do to ensure you the best possible chance at success.

To learn how Eazi-Apps can help to improve your customer services enquire today.