One of the many reasons ‘good’ businesses become ‘great’ is due to the loyalty they gain from their customers. Businesses that put their customers at the heart of their business have the ability to deliver an exceptional customer experience – something many businesses aren’t doing to the best of their ability. Customer service qualifications for your staff are just one way to ensure your customers get the experience they deserve, which can save your business money in the long term.
Find out how else good customer service can save your business money in the long term below.
Retain Customers
Naturally, when a customer is happy with the customer service they receive, they will continue doing business with your brand. In fact, 68% of customers leave because they were unhappy with the service they received. Even though the cost of retaining customer will vary by industry, good customer service saves businesses money in the long term because customer retention is far cheaper than customer acquisition. Plus, loyal customers are far more profitable, so it’s a win-win situation!
Improves Business Decisions
Customers that receive an exceptionally good or an exceptionally poor service like to make their experience known. While some businesses may not agree, many believe that collecting customer feedback is a good step to improving business decisions. Not only does it create more repeat business, it generates more new business too.
This information enables businesses to make informed decisions about the future of their brand, business and products to help them save money in the long term, where as a lack of knowledge may result in poor business decisions, which can be costly and may result in customers transferring their valuable business to competitors.
Increased Profitability
There’s no doubt about it. Businesses that provide a good service and receive good references in return acquire new customers at a fraction of the cost. While normal businesses are forced to invest in advertising and promotions to get consumers on board, businesses that provide a good service can sit back, relax and watch their business grow in the comfort of their office. Customers have a lifetime value – In other words, the total amount they will spend as a customer.
In order to continue improving business profitability and to save money in the long term, businesses must strive to add value by listening to what their customers have to say, have regular contact with them and be as flexible as business will allow. Remember, customer retention is in the hands of the business!
Competitive Advantage
Good customer service is crucial for any business to sustain a competitive advantage. When employees build relationships with customers themselves, there is no room for a competitor to enter, making it difficult to beat. But, there are several others ways businesses can sustain a competitive advantage, from lowering prices to offering greater value benefits.
Competitive advantages continue to save businesses money in the long term because, much like we mentioned above, customer retention is much more effective than customer acquisition.
Creates Word of Mouth
Good customer service creates valuable word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways of marketing a brand, a business, or a product. Spreading the word about your brand, business or product in conversation is very much different from traditional forms of marketing, which usually entails some type of paid advertising.
One of the biggest benefits of word-of-mouth marketing is that it’s free – so it won’t cost your business a penny! However, for word-of-mouth marketing to be successful, a universal strategy must be implemented to kick start the conversation. Despite this, word-of-mouth marketing continues to save businesses money in the long term because there is no need to fork out on expensive marketing techniques, such as television and radio advertising – and it keeps on going!