Customer service should never be turned off at 5:00 pm. For successful businesses, customer service is a 24-hour endeavor.
Most businesses that meet with even moderate success have a decent understanding of what they do. However, a surprising number—the majority of businesses in many industries, in fact—have lost sight of who they do it for. Your customers are an absolutely indispensable part of your bottom line, and sacrificing customer service is a poor way to save a buck. In the end, spending a tiny bit extra to deliver a whole lot more is a much better way to boost your bottom line and improve your customer retention and acquisition rates. Providing 24/7 service is a great way to accomplish this, and it’s more affordable than you might think.
Answer the Call for Better Customer Service
Ask most consumer-oriented businesses what the most decisive factor is when it comes to standing out from the competition and making the sale, and they’ll tell you it’s price. If you can offer the same basic product or service for less than your competitors, the reigning wisdom says, you’ll be everyone’s first choice. While price is an important consideration, research shows that it’s actually in second place, just behind—you guessed it: customer service.
If you can come close to your competitor’s prices and quality, but offer superior customer service, you’ll turn more prospects into paying customers and you’ll keep them around a lot longer, which means lower acquisition costs and higher rates of referral business.
The same study found that 69% of customers equate good customer service not to problem-free transactions, but to the quick resolution of problems when they arise. A negative experience handled promptly and professionally can actually improve customer loyalty and increase purchases!
Meanwhile, 72% of of people surveyed said the need to explain their problem to multiple people was a major cause of a bad customer service experience, and 39% of customers with a bad experience will continue to avoid that business more than two years later!
Companies that don’t offer round-the-clock support letting people call whenever they choose is also a customer service shortcoming. Callers quickly grow irritated when they dial at 9 pm only to hear a message saying to call back during normal business hours. That’s a quick way to encourage them to simply call another business that is available.
Putting customers on hold, making them go through multiple transfers without any internal communication, and simply being unresponsive when your customers decide to contact you is all bad for business.
The solution is simple: be there to provide outstanding, personal customer service whenever a question or problem arises.
24/7 responsiveness with trained, informed, pleasant professionals is the way to go. But staffing a whole team of people to work around the clock is expensive, right? Right, it is. But there is another far more cost-effective way to provide 24/7 customer service: a 24×7 answering service. The right answering service can help you affordably provide 24-hour customer service no matter how small your business is.
See what our team of experienced customer service professionals can do for your company with a free trial of our call center services.
More posts you might want to check out:
What Happens When The Customer Is Wrong?
Eliminate Hold Times And Improve Customer Satisfaction
Are Your Customers Having a Good Experience? Here’s How to Tell