When allocating funds to the various departments in your business, there are those critical areas that always come first in your list. For example, the product development team and the marketing team all require some cash to run seamlessly. However, investing in customer support might seem like a waste for many small and medium businesses.
On the contrary, the customer service team is just as important as your development and marketing teams – if not more so. After all, they are the ones who are in direct touch with your customers and your brand. If you are not convinced, here are a few reasons why having a customer service team is critical for the growth of your business relationship with its customers.
Retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones
Did you know that if you increased your business’ customer retention by just 5 percent you can achieve a profit of around 25 percent? Your repeat customers are most likely to buy more from your business, which translates to business growth with reduced operation costs!
On the other hand, acquiring a single new customer can be expensive. In fact, factoring some percent of your budget to customer service helps to reduce your churn rate. This, in turn, means a reduction in the amount spent on the acquisition of new customers.
Happy customer service representative means happy customers
Zero employees enjoy going to a work environment where they feel that their efforts are under-appreciated. This applies to the customer support team too, according to EIRE Systems. About 87 percent of happy employees will work harder for their customers.
In other words, make sure you make your employees feel appreciated and respected in order to get the best out of them. The result is a motivation to work harder and treating customers better, which leads to customers feeling more appreciated and respected.
Encourage your loyal customers
Whenever your customer is treated well by your business, he or she has every reason to purchase again and even recommend you. In many ways, it’s much cheaper retaining your old customers than acquiring new ones. Therefore, the higher your customer’s level of satisfaction, the more revenue your business will expect a single customer to spend – meaning higher profits.
If there are hundreds of competitors within your niche selling similar products, your business has to work harder than shouting about interesting features. Through high-quality customer services, you are able to differentiate your business to your customers.
Further, loyalty is based on trust, and your customers will value real-life humans in comparison to brand values and ideas. Therefore, by interacting with a competent customer support team, your customers will build relationships that extend to a lifetime with your brand.
Achieve insights into customer experiences
No matter how you perceive your business; what matters is what your customer thinks about it. For example, if you run a business software company, you likely associate it with business people looking for software solutions. However, your clientele might choose to buy your products because you offer them a time-saving convenience – so, align your marketing ideas around these values.
A customer service team answers plenty of probing question for you. Instead of spending your money and time researching your clients, the customer service team directly interacts with them. The responses received offer plenty of insights into how you can improve your goals, products, and marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Providing a positive experience for each of your customers can dramatically improve your annual bottom line. However, in most cases, the customer service aspect of the business takes a back seat due to the demanding nature of modern business. These reasons offer you insight into why good customer service is also critical.