Customer service is the lifeline off all businesses. Everyone gives immense focus on satisfying their customers, as losing them clearly means losing their business as well.
But for all the years that "satisfying the customer" is the primary obligation of business owners, did the idea of "serving the consumer to the fullest" become a perfected element in marketing?
Sadly, perhaps because of the advent of various technologies and marketing strategies, many business owners seem to treat customer care as a minor part of their business. They're more concerned about selling, and once the products are on the shelf or ready for the market, they just leave it at that, without even thinking of the customers' welfare.
Forrester said that 42% of service agents are ineffective in resolving customer issues because of disconnected systems and outdated user interfaces, and this resulted to 26% of customers being passed on from one agent to another without achieving their intended result. These numbers alone tell that many companies are not really into giving what their customers want.
How customer reacts to bad customer experience
A staggering 45% of customers will just to choose to abandon an online transaction the moment they feel that their concerns are not being addressed immediately.
This bad experience, according to Global Customer Barometer, would likely to end up being heard by another person, as disappointed customers have a large tendency of sharing negative brand experience to their friends. On the other hand, Nielsen McKinsey stated that 17% of satisfied customers will surely recommend a brand to their friends even if it took them hours to have their problems being addressed, so long as these are solved according to their intended outcome.
Unaddressed service-related problems are also the top reason why customers jump to their favorite brand's competitor, according to Bain & Co. And this highlights the gravity of the fact that 83% of customers value customer support each time they purchase.
The price of taking consumer satisfaction for granted
Accenture Maximizing Customer Retention Report has it that periodic loss of customers is credited to the company’s light treatment of how they will service their customers.
Customer service has a price—literally. According to deFacto Reasearch, 55% of customers said that they are willing to pay extra just to obtain the service they need and deserve, and a 10% increase in a company's customer retention levels is attributed to a 30% increase in the company's value or how it put immense focus on giving what their customers need.
These numbers, however, are not produced here to scare businesses away. These are a reminder that while many businesses are taking customer care for granted, they can be different and gain more customers—and eventually a big ROI—in the future.
The business world is simple: make the customers happy, and success will follow.
Open Access BPO's, a fast-rising outsourcing firm that operates in Makati, Philippines, offers a vast array of inbound customer service solutions that aim to deliver you to success. Know more about our other services by visiting our website and Google+ page.
