The Importance of Quality Customer Service
5th February 2012 - Posted By James Parmee Morris

Quality customer service should be a top priority for any enterprise, whether a sole trader or large multi-national company. According to a customer satisfaction survey, 67% of consumers ended a business relationship due to bad customer service. In the UK alone, poor customer service costs the economy 15.3 billion pounds – each year.

The marketplace is now global, with customers buying goods and services internationally, and they expect to get customer service in their own language, and with a local number. This satisfies the nearly 50% of customers who consider 'convenient communication channels' to be a metric of good customer service.

Luckily the cost of setting up and maintaining a local answering and customer service is no longer expensive, as the whole operation can be outsourced to companies dedicated to supporting customers at home and abroad. This is great for small business owners who would not be able to afford the service otherwise, and very cost effective for large companies who can reduce overheads and employee costs.

Quality customer service is even more critical in this age of social media, where a company can be trashed on networks like Facebook and Twitter in minutes. United Airlines learnt the social media lesson the hard way, when the “United Breaks Guitars” viral video saw their stock price fall 10% within only four days of the video appearing on YouTube. The effects can also be long lasting , as the United video has over 11.5 million views to date!

The lesson is clear, if you make a mistake and give your clients poor customer service, you run the risk that their message will be seen by millions. Repairing your reputation and countering a negative social media image can be very costly, especially when you consider how easy it is to keep them happy. Customers can accept your company may sometimes make mistakes, all they want is to be heard and have their issues dealt with, without having to call expensive premium rate or overseas numbers.

Having an efficient call answering or customer service team with local phone numbers is a small price to pay to keep your customers happy and your reputation in tact!

Post a Comment