Long relegated to the background, customer service is now at the heart of the issues when a company is not performing well. This is not surprising: customer service is a major asset in the consumer's journey.
In this article, our customer service placement agency, Fed Supply, gives you the definition of customer service, its role as well as the areas of improvement to be implemented in order to perform in a company.
What is the definition of customer service?
Customer service refers to all the actions implemented by a company to assist its customers in their purchasing process and to meet their needs after the purchase.
Customer service can take different forms, such as technical support, after-sales service, order tracking, problem resolution, complaint management and returns.
To provide quality customer service, a company must develop an effective marketing strategy, choosing the communication channels best suited to its customers' needs. It must also train its employees in active listening, problem solving, courtesy and empathy.
Finally, it must put in place internal processes to ensure effective follow-up of customer requests and rapid problem resolution. Let's look at these aspects in more detail.
What is the role of customer service?
Customer service has become a key part of many companies' business strategy, as it can make the difference between keeping a customer and losing them. Let's take a look at the benefits of well-run customer service.
Loyalizing customers
Customer service can help build customer loyalty by providing a satisfying customer experience, resolving issues quickly and answering questions clearly and accurately. Prompt assistance allows you to gain trust from your customers and build on that foundation. Responding to needs in a personalized manner inevitably helps build customer loyalty.
Improving the company's reputation
Good customer service can improve the company's reputation by providing a positive customer experience. Satisfied customers may recommend the company to others, which can increase the company's reputation. This positive experience reinforces the authority and reliability of the brand. You're always naturally more attracted to a company with a high rating, and if you look closely, those high ratings are almost always due to the customer experience.
Increase Sales
Effective customer service can help increase sales by converting prospects into customers, enticing existing customers to buy again, and offering additional products or services. It is through the loyalty mentioned earlier that sales are likely to increase: so confident, the customer knows they will not be disappointed and will be assisted during their buying journey.
Manage complaints and returns
Customer service can help manage complaints and returns by providing quick and efficient assistance to unhappy customers. This can help minimize costs associated with returns in the supply chain and preserve the customer relationship.
Improve products and services
Customer feedback and suggestions gathered by customer service can help improve the products and services offered by the company. Successfully identifying shortcomings in an offering or service can only be done effectively with consumer input. As a mediator, the customer service department can therefore pass on this information to the teams responsible for design and production. The fact that the customer feels listened to and that their opinions matter, helps to strengthen a great relationship as well.
Ensuring regulatory compliance
Customer service can help ensure regulatory compliance by providing accurate information to customers about company policies and applicable regulations. This helps to guide the consumer journey and ensure that they experience the service or product in the best possible way.
In short, customer service enables a functional business by helping to satisfy customer needs, improve the company's image and increase sales. Effective customer service can contribute to the company's long-term growth and success.
How to improve client service?
Improving a company's customer service is essential to satisfying customers, improving the company's reputation, and increasing sales. Superior customer service can help retain existing customers and attract new ones through positive word-of-mouth and favorable online reviews. Let's look at six ways to do this.
1. Provide adequate training to employees
Customer service employees must be trained to respond quickly, accurately, and courteously to customer questions and concerns. Working in customer service requires special skills and cultivating them.
In fact, it is important to have a trained customer service representative, and to avoid assigning these responsibilities to someone from another industry if possible.
Example: At Zappos, an online shoe retailer, new employees receive four weeks of training to learn how to provide superior customer service.
2. Easy customer contact
Customers should be able to easily contact customer service. Today, phone, email, online chat or social networks are widely used by customers.
If your company only uses the phone, and no written channels, you are certainly missing great opportunities to improve customer service. A presence on all channels is becoming de rigueur in terms of customer service.
Example: Airbnb has implemented a messaging system that allows customers to contact hosts and customer service directly from the platform, to quickly resolve issues.
3. Listen to customers
Businesses need to listen to their customers' feedback and suggestions to improve their customer service. We've already mentioned this above, but developing this aspect is very important to ensure you're always growing.
Setting up a feedback system on your website or having your customer service agent verbally ask a customer can serve this purpose.
Example: Apple created a feedback system to allow customers to give their opinion on the brand's products and services, in order to improve them accordingly.
4. Provide benefits to loyal customers
Companies can offer benefits and rewards to loyal customers to encourage them to continue buying and recommending the company. This practice creates an effect of privilege - the customer feels cared for and holds a more special status than others.
This reward certainly maintains their loyalty. Whether you are a small or large company, selling a product or service, you can always find a way to offer special benefits or discounts.
Example: Sephora offers exclusive benefits to members of its loyalty program, such as free samples, discounts, invitations to events, etc.
5. Be proactive in solving problems
Companies must be proactive in solving customer problems, offering satisfactory solutions quickly.
Quick action shows seriousness and consideration, characteristics that are lost today in our individualistic environment.
Example: Amazon has implemented an automatic refund system for customers who encounter problems with their order, in order to solve the problem quickly and efficiently.
6. Use a customer relationship management software
Working on customer relationship management is certainly the most effective way to improve customer service. Indeed, the centralization of data thanks to a CRM software allows to facilitate the treatment and the management of the information related to the customers. It is possible to improve the efficiency of your customer relationship strategy by this means.
Recruit in the customer service sector with Fed Supply
Today, customer service has become a major guarantee of a company's reliability with consumers. Moreover, this sector participates in the conversion of prospects for the purchase of a good or service of a company. So there is no reason to neglect it, quite the contrary.
If you are looking to recruit in the customer service sector, contact us now or entrust us with a position so that we can find the ideal candidate for your company.
