— By Cindy Price —
Superpowers your business can’t ignore: customer service and customer experience.
Are you aware that your business possesses superpowers? It’s true. Like Dorothy and the ruby slippers, you’ve had them all along. So what are these superpowers? Customer Service and Customer Experience. The two are direct contributors to your business’s success — and reputation. Attracting and retaining customers is always your goal. What helps you reach it are these unique to you superpowers. Although linked together, customer service and customer experience also possess notable differences.
Customer Service
Cindy Price, Federal Heath
Customer service plays an integral role in customer perception of your brand. The assistance you provide your customers before, during and after a sale of goods or a service will help to define how strong your superpower will be. When you correctly develop and use the full force of this superpower, you become unstoppable.
Here are a few statistics that emphasize the importance of Customer Service:
- 68% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences. (HubSpot)
- 9% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer experience. (Salesforce)
- A good customer service experience heavily impacts recommendations. Consumers who rate a company’s service as “good” are 38% more likely to recommend that company. (Qualtrics XM Institute)
- If a company’s customer service is excellent, 78% of consumers will do business with them again after a mistake. (Salesforce)
- After more than one bad experience, approximately 80% of consumers say they would rather do business with a competitor. (Zendesk)
Customer service is a crucial component to your success, no matter your industry. Because it helps grow revenue and maintain customer loyalty, investing in the right tools and continuous training for your team should be an ongoing priority.
Customer Experience
The customer’s perception of your brand is what defines the customer experience. It identifies you as either a great company that consistently delivers on expectations time and time again or one that can’t seem to get it right. Your fundamental objective should always be to provide your customers with the best experience possible at each touchpoint, creating loyalty. Doing this will help your business succeed in the best — and worst — of times.
Some businesses fail to realize the importance of customer experience, or do so after losing their business to a competitor. Mistakes happen, but if you recognize the issue, and do what you can to make things right, people are more apt to forgive those mistakes if their overall experience with your business is good.
According to a report by Pega, based on data from a survey of 5,000 business decision-makers in 12 countries, respondents say the most critical components of providing a great customer experience are:
- Enabling elegant, painless interactions (66%).
- Providing speedy service (66%).
- Ensuring that customers feel understood (65%).
- Making relevant information easy to find (63%).
- Being consistent and connected across channels (63%).
A United Front
Customer experience and customer service involve the entire customer journey. The key to both is consistency. Someone may have a wonderful experience when buying your product or receiving your services but may have a negative experience when requiring customer service assistance with an issue. Having both in sync with one another and consistently working on mastering these skills will add strength to your unique superpower and help to define your brand.
Power Up
Have you seen the Avengers Endgame movie? If so, then you know it took all the “supers” collaborating to save the world. The same is true for business. With continuous training and consistent execution, your team can rid the world of bad customer service and start creating memorable, lasting experiences your customers will appreciate and remember.
— Cindy Price is senior marketing specialist with Orlando, Florida-based Federal Heath.