In 2019, the best marketer is a happy and loyal customer.
Customers have more power now. They sleep, eat and breathe contemporary technology. They have thousands of options at their fingertips. They are more demanding with the brands they choose. And if you’re not willing to adapt, it’s very likely that your business will fail.
Although most of you entrepreneurs have access to the right technology to provide exceptional customer experience, only 1 out of 100 companies actually invest in it. So why are you still among those 99 companies?
In a previous article, I mentioned some of the customer service trends that will dominate this year. Things like AI-powered assistants, self-service tools, and voice recognition make the new definition of good customer service. Mainly because today’s customers expect a quick and effortless experience when in need of support.
Remember that happy customers are more likely to come back and stay loyal to your brand. So here’s why you should bet on good customer service.
You get better retention
Companies love to go after new clients. But as exciting as that can be, in most cases, getting new customers costs five times as much as retaining current ones. So start focusing on those first.
With so many options out there, customers prefer to choose a brand with a fast, affordable and high-quality service, which allows them to achieve their goals easily. Naturally, if a customer is happy with your service he will start using it more often, and will not even look for competitors.
Statistics keep showing that good customer service is incredibly important for retaining clients. In fact, 47% of customers switch to a competitor after a single instance of poor customer service. No pressure right?
You get more references
Customers trust their friends a lot. In fact, 7 out of 10 people will reach to their friends for advice when making purchasing decisions, proving “word of mouth” as the ultimate marketing strategy nowadays.
We all love to share our experiences with others. Whether on a coffee with friends or through social media. And there’s no in-between. Whether we talk about the really good stuff or the really bad stuff. And trust me, you don’t want to be on the bad side!
When you provide good customer service, your clients will talk about you. They will help you gain new customers and take your business to a wider audience.
Imagine this scenario, you once went to a restaurant. You loved it so much you recommended it to your 5 friends. These 5 friends ended up going as well and also mentioned it to some of their friends. One of them happened to be a travel blogger and wrote an article about it, reaching at least 200 viewers each month. That’s the way to success right there.
You get a competitive advantage
You probably already heard of Buffer. One of the biggest and popular social media management tools for businesses. And although they do own a powerful platform, Buffer is all about exceptional customer support.
Co-founders Joel and Leo make it an important aspect of the brand’s culture, and created a dedicated support team filled with “heroes” and “warriors”, which they call “Happiness team”.
They stand out from the competition because they genuinely care about their users. They see it as an opportunity to learn about their product and get to know customers a little bit better.
What do they do differently? Besides having an FAQ page on their website, they provide several guides and tutorials, case studies and even Webinars. They often take advantage of channels like Twitter to keep in touch with customers more quickly and have agents working worldwide. It’s also worth mentioning that every member takes a day each month to answer emails, reply to tweets and help out their Happiness team in order to boost effectiveness.
Is it working? Well if you look at all the references Buffer gets on major sites and tech blogs, it must be.
And obviously, you get profit.
Ordinary Marketing campaigns are costly and have high risks, as you never know how the results are going to be. But when you provide good customer service, all the promotion will be done by your current customers.
They will be the ones recommending your service to their friends and family. They will be the ones sharing your posts and engaging with your social media pages. And all you need to do is to sit down and keep being great.
But good customer service is not just about hard-working agents. So start investing in omnichannel delivery, personalized experiences and interactive support!
