Though it may seem hard to track the actual benefit of customer service, excellent customer service has actually been proven to benefit not only the customers, but also the businesses in many ways. Here are five reasons why customer service should be important to your business.
Increase Revenue
A common myth is that increasing your marketing and advertising budget is the only way to increase sales. While that can definitely help depending on the business, it’s not the only way to increase sales. Did you know that customer retention is actually cheaper than customer acquisition? Your current customers have trusted you once, and are more likely to continue trusting you when you provide excellent customer service. It takes much more effort and many more resources to convince a new customer to trust you when they don’t know you yet. According to Forbes, customers are willing to spend 17% more on businesses that provide great customer care, proving that customer service is an important way to increase your sales and revenue.
Happy Customers Refer
What makes happy customers? Excellent customer service will surely help make your customers happy! Research by Texas Tech University shows that 83% of consumers are willing to refer friends and family after a positive experience. When people are referred by a friend, they are also four times more likely to buy! This proves that excellent customer service can go a long way. Imagine if 83% of your customers were happy and referred their friends, and out of that group, those people were four times more likely to convert and buy into your service. By having great customer service, you could increase your customer base exponentially! The benefit of providing excellent customer service is much greater than the price we pay for it.
Represents your Company’s Values
Other than the obvious benefit of increasing sales and revenue, one of the most important things about customer service, according to Hubspot, is that it represents your business’ brand, mission, and values. Your customer service team is the one that has first-hand experience with your customers. They have direct communication with them and can express what your company stands for in every way. An employee will show how much they value their relationship with their company by how they treat their customers. Each customer service representative can show the company’s value in security, trust, and the mission to help customers. Customer service is critical to your company’s image and reputation.
Maximize Marketing Efforts
Another great benefit of providing excellent customer service is it can help maximize marketing efforts. While we can rely on data and other channels to gather information about customers and their buying behaviors, great customer service can help you gather first-hand data from your customers directly. The information provided from customers can be critical for a company’s marketing strategy. Once you know what your customers need and want, your marketing effort can be targeted specifically to meet that need. A focus on customer service is a great investment for your business long term.
Competitive advantage
While all of these benefits are great, one of the greatest benefits of providing excellent customer service is that it’s a competitive advantage. Many businesses provide similar products and services; however, one thing that helps your business stand out from your competitors can be the great customer service that you provide. Each customer loves to know that they will be well taken care of. Excellent customer service can be a great competitive advantage, putting your business ahead of the rest!
Bottom Line
There are so many reasons customer service is important to your business. We hope we provided some great insights for you to see how great customer service can impact your business, and how we can help you provide better customer service to your customers. Contact one of our Business Relationship Officers for a competitive analysis to see how we can help you save and to experience our customer service today!