If you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will.
Customer service is vital for your company’s success as it is often the first and only point of contact your customers will have with your company.
Here are five ways in which a great customer experience can help increase your profits:
1. Strong brand reputation leads to more profits
As stated by Alexander F. Brigham, the executive director of the Ethisphere Institute, “strong brand reputational value equals greater profits.”
Being consistent with your customers and exceeding their expectations is key to building a good brand reputation. Word of mouth can travel fast – particularly if its bad news.
As shown in trackur’s infographic, negative interactions spread to 2 times more people than positive interactions, which could lead to lost customers and lost sales. However, a good reputation will help you retain your customers, resulting in repeat business and ultimately an increase in sales and profits.
2. Retaining your customers can increase sales
A study carried out by Bain & Company found that, a 5% increase in customer retention can increase business profits by 25% – 125%.
To keep your customers, you need to understand their needs. Asking your customers for feedback through surveys or review forums will help you to keep track of your customer’s opinions and expectations.
Customer appreciation can go a long way too. Loyalty schemes are an established way to reward loyalty, whilst also encouraging more sales.
3. Good customer service helps convert prospects
Your customer service team can be the difference between a prospect converting into a customer, or leaving before they reach the checkout.
Insight Squared found that 55% of consumers have intended to make a purchase, but backed out because of poor customer service.
In addition, 58% of customers said they would never use a company again after a negative experience, showing that bad customer service can affect your company for years to come.
Converting a prospect into a customer is a careful balancing act which can be supported by excellent customer service. The more prospects you convert into customers, the more profitable you will become – especially if you’re able to retain them.
4.Unhappy customers require more time and money
GrooveHQ states that “for every customer who complains, there are 26 customers who don’t say anything.” Those that complain are providing an insight into something which is probably making other customers unhappy too, which gives you the opportunity to improve your services.
An unhappy customer will require more of your customer services attention and time to deal with their complaints, which will take time away from customer services helping a prospect with a query or to make a purchase.
To understand your customer you’ll need to experience what they experience. By understanding your sales process as a customer, and continually auditing your sales process you’ll be able to notice and improve the problems and complaint areas before they arise.
5. Happy customers spend more
Accenture’s 11th Annual Global Consumer Pulse Survey, 47% of customers are willing to spend more for better customer service. Providing an award-winning customer service means you’ll be able to give more time to your customers without affecting your profits.
Unhappy customers who share their bad experience can damage your reputation. Happy customers can contribute to your sales through supporting your brand and recommending you to friends or family.
According to Groove HQ’s study: “when it comes to sales, the probability of selling to an existing happy customer is up to 14x higher than the probability of selling to a new customer.” Happy customers can turn into loyal customers and brand advocates, who will provide you with repeat business, leading to more profit for your business.
Are you providing a high quality customer service?
If you’re struggling to recruit the right calibre of staff, or the quality of your customer service just isn’t meeting your customer’s expectations, perhaps your customer service is due an upgrade?
Get in touch with one of our experts to see how we can help improve your customer service.
