The Value of Customer Service

You know as well as we do, one of the key indicators of business performance is… you guessed it… customer service.

Customer service is important to your business because it is often the only direct contact a customer has with your company. With some customers spending hundreds and even thousands of euros or pounds a year on your products or services, they expect your company’s customer service department to be there for them when they need help resolving certain issues.

These are all things we kind of already knew, but here is some cold hard evidence that what our bosses (and bosses’ bosses) have been drilling into us all these years is indeed still true: American Express conducts a yearly Global Customer Service Barometer to keep track of the ever-important state of customer service in the United States. Their most recent report has a number of great insights that could be useful in your quest to give the best customer service you can give.

In their 2014 report of a survey conducted by Ebiquity, findings show that nearly three in four consumers spend more with a company that provides them with a great costumer service experience. With an incredible 68% of consumers saying they would be willing to spend up to 14% more with a company who offers top-notch customer service.

While the world of online communication has been booming, talking on the phone remains in the top preferred sources of customer service. This is especially true when customers are asking more complex questions. Moreover, the results showed that a large majority of consumers believe that companies’ ability to ‘provide a satisfactory answer to their question’ and being able to ‘connect them with someone who is knowledgeable’ are the two most important factors in the definition of excellent customer service.

You may be asking what all of these things mean to you. Well, this is where you step in with your excellent customer service as that differentiating factor that consumers are looking for – perhaps you could add a freephone number, restructure your IVR menu or plan your resources in a slightly different way? Usually it’s just a small thing that differentiates the good from the great.

Here at TeleForwarding, we believe that great customer service boils down to a melting pot of a large number of strengths, including transparency, reliability, trustworthiness, accessibility, communication and empathy – combined with a mix of top-notch communication channels, such as telephony, email and online chat services.

What do you think? Join the conversation in our comment section.

photo credit: voyager_legend_uc_man_office_talking