Why customer service matters - even online!

After a few bad customer experiences in the past weeks (especially with South West Trains), I thought I'd take some time to talk about customer service and how important it is, even in a digital world.

What is customer service?
In my opinion, customer service is all the interactions between a business and its customers (or potential customers), whether it is at the research stage, during purchase or when the transaction is complete.

Why does it matter?
as the old sayings go, "the customer is king" or "the customer is always right". I do appreciate that these are very old fashioned sayings, but I think the same rules still apply today, albeit online rather than offline only. As a business, you have to realise that if you do not treat your customers well, they will not do business with you, an no customers means no business. So to sum it up...look after your customers!
A lot of new online business owners seem to assume that having a nice website is enough and very often neglect the customer service aspect of their operations. This is a mistake that can be very costly, especially in a market where customer loyalty is decreasing and shopping around is so easy.
Remember that a happy customer can turn into a loyal customer and an advocate for your brand, and it is cheaper for a business to retain customers rather than acquiring new ones. This obviously doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an acquisition strategy too, but that can be the topic of another post.

How to get it right?
So what can you do to make sure that your customers are looked after?

• Display contact details - make sure that your site includes a highly visible phone number on every page, as well as a chat functionality, call back request tool, email address....
• Train your staff (or yourself) - If you run your business alone, make sure you are aware of the basic customer service rules and be available for questions and assistance. If you happen to have a team of people working for you, make sure they are fully trained and understand the importance of good customer service. Put processes in place for pre and post sales enquiries, customer handling, refund policies....and all of the other steps involved in the purchasing process.
• After sales service/marketing - Once a customer has bought from you, why not try and convert them into loyal customers? Some simple and well targeted marketing campaigns can help you increase return rates and repeat purchase. For example, why not send your customers an email a month after their initial purchase to ask them how satisfied they are? You can also encourage people to leave feedback on your website, and if the comments are really positive, use them on your site as references. People are always looking at reviews, case studies and opinions before purchasing these days, so make sure your name and satisfied customers are out there.
  Monitor what is being said about you on social media sites, blogs, forums, and interact with your customers whenever possible.
• Get the right tools for the job - having a proper CRM (customer relationship management) software will help you achieve better results by storing details about your customers. The more you know about them, the easier it will be to satisfy them and build a customer profile.
• Good customer service starts inside your business - if you run a fairly large business with several departments involved with the customer experience, make sure that your staff apply the rules of customer service internally. After all, each department will have its own internal customers, and if they don't know how to serve them well, it is unlikely they do a good job of serving external customers, the ones that bring revenue.

Common sense and friendliness can go a long way when running a business, but rules, training and appropriate tools will get you a step closer to customer service excellence. Kano's model on customer needs is always an interesting read if you want to learn more.

Have a good weekend