What Is Customer Service?
Customer service is the direct one-on-one interaction between a consumer and a company representative. The interaction is commonly done when a consumer is buying a product or service from the company. Most retailers see this direct interaction as a critical factor in ensuring buyer satisfaction and encouraging repeat business. The option to tát speak to tát a live customer service agent is considered necessary for most businesses even though the bulk of customer care is automated. Customer service is also considered a key aspect of servant-leadership.
Key Takeaways
- Customer service is the interaction between the buyer of a product and the company that sells it.
- Good customer service is critical to tát business success, ensuring brand loyalty one customer at a time.
- Recent innovations have focused on automating customer service systems but the human element is, in some cases, indispensable.
Customer Service
How Customer Service Works
Behind the scenes at most companies are people who never meet or greet the people who buy their products. The customer service representatives are the ones who have direct tương tác with the buyers. The buyers' perceptions of the company and the product are shaped in part by their experience in dealing with that person. This is why many companies work hard to tát increase their customer satisfaction levels.
Bạn đang xem: service là gì
Successful small business owners understand the need for good customer service instinctively. Larger businesses study the subject in-depth, and they have some basic conclusions about the key components:
- Timely attention to tát issues raised by customers is critical. Requiring a customer to tát wait in line or sit on hold sours an interaction before it begins.
- Customer service should be a single-step process for the consumer. If a customer calls a helpline, the representative should whenever possible follow the problem through to tát its resolution.
- If a customer must be transferred to tát another department, the original representative should follow up with the customer to tát ensure that the problem was solved.
Customer service should be a one-stop process for the consumer whenever possible.
Benefits of Customer Service
There are many reasons why businesses should invest in (good) customer service. The following are just some of the main benefits of implementing a customer service program within a company:
- Customer Retention: The first and most obvious advantage of having a customer service plan in place is to tát keep customers happy. It means listening to tát concerns, being empathetic, and easing issues related to tát product availability, payment, returns, and technical tư vấn. Showing that a company cares keeps customers loyal.
- Employee Retention: Customer service isn't just for customers. It also helps keep employees with the company. When customers are happy, employees are, too. Individuals tend to tát want to tát work in an environment that cares about their customers.
- Troubleshooting and Problem-Solving: Businesses have to tát take care of their customers' problems. But companies that take a proactive approach tend to tát vì thế better. This means that it's important to tát reach out to tát customers before any issues arise. This shows that the company cares and is doing all that it can to tát ensure a smooth customer experience.
- Leads to tát Referrals: Consumers who have a good experience usually pass on that information to tát others, whether that's through word-of-mouth to tát people they know, customer reviews, or social truyền thông. This often helps businesses generate new sales.
- Boosts Brand: Businesses that show consumers they care through customer service help increase their brand equity. This also leads to tát more referrals and, therefore, an increase in sales.
- Increases Customer Lifetime Value: This refers to tát the relationship customer service helps establish and solidify with a single customer. When a company provides a single customer with good service, that person is more likely to tát add to tát the company's revenue by remaining loyal and making more purchases.
- Corporate Culture: Customer service allows businesses to tát streamline their workflow and promote cooperation among different teams. This includes communication between agents and managers, technical engineers, and production teams. All of this is to tát help corporations achieve their goals of customer attraction and retention, and increasing sales revenue.
- Competitive Advantage: Having a good customer service base sets a company apart from its competition. It boosts the business's reputation and also increases its brand value by showing consumers and competitors that the business values the relationships it has with new and existing customers.
Traits of Good Customer Service
It isn't enough to tát have a customer service plan in place. Rather, it needs to tát be effective in order to tát help reap the benefits. But before we look at how to tát be effective, it's important to tát explore bad customer service.
Bad customer service is any communication or experience where a consumer feels as though they are let down. This includes negative experiences, such as long wait or hold times, not being able to tát speak to tát an agent, being transferred many times, or not being heard. This can lead customers to tát provide negative reviews and/or begin shopping with a competitor.
So how can this be turned around? There are a few key traits that businesses can apply to tát their customer service to tát make it a better experience. Consider the following:
- Personalization: Tailoring the experience to tát each customer is an effective way of practicing good customer service. After all, not everyone is different and has the same needs. Listening to tát what their needs are can help determine the course of action and the direction of the experience.
- Speed: Businesses should provide their service quickly. If there's a problem, it should be resolved as soon as possible. Customers don't want to tát wait to tát get an issue resolved or to tát have their questions answered. Having said this, there is a fine balance between tốc độ and problem-solving—not getting the customer off the phone or brushing them off without a resolution. This means that efficiency and effectiveness may have to tát supersede tốc độ in order to tát provide a great experience.
- Option for Self-Service: It's important to tát allow customers the option to tát help themselves, whether that's through an automated service or self-service through the checkout. Keep in mind that this should be done only if consumers want it. Forcing everyone to tát help themselves may alienate those who want to tát giảm giá khuyến mãi with customer service agents.
- Listening and Empathy: Customer service only goes sánh far if the business listens and empathizes with the customer. This requires training and skills, along with a certain degree of compassion.
- Being Proactive: One of the key traits of good customer service is being proactive. It's always a good idea to tát reach out to tát customers first rather phàn nàn waiting for a problem to tát arise. It shows that a company cares. This can be done with a simple follow-up tin nhắn or phone Gọi.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected customer service representative job growth decline by 4% between 2021 and 2031.
How to tát Deliver Great Customer Service
Studies of customer service have centered on creating the perfect online experience. The first and most difficult factor is the multiplicity of channels. Today's customers expect to tát get service through whatever ứng dụng or device they happen to tát be using at the moment. That may be a mobile device or a máy tính xách tay, a social truyền thông site, a text ứng dụng, or live chat.
Once again, the focus has been on packaging how-to nội dung and related resources that are designed for self-service. Increasingly sophisticated data analytics also are being used to tát identify dissatisfied or low-engagement customers. But, as always, the most effective customer service apps need to tát incorporate human tương tác, if only as a last resort.
Customer Service Channels
There are a number of different channels to tát deliver customer service. Many companies use more phàn nàn one way for consumers to tát reach them, especially larger ones. Smaller businesses may use one or just a few of them. And in the age of social truyền thông, it's become even easier to tát get in touch with businesses to tát get questions answered and problems resolved.
Xem thêm: get out là gì
The following chart highlights some of the most common customer service channels companies can use.
Customer Service Channels | |
---|---|
Telephone | Historically, the most common way for customers to tát reach a company. |
In-Person | Brick-and-mortar stores can continue offering customer service in person. Although some consumers don't want the hassle of going into a store, there are some who prefer a more personal, face-to-face experience. |
Self-Service | This allows consumers to tát take matters into their own hands by directing the course of the experience based on their own wants and needs. |
Even with all the options available, tin nhắn is considered a go-to method of customer service. It eliminates the need to tát wait for an agent and allows the customer to tát explain their situation. | |
Social Media | Opening up the possibility of communication through different social truyền thông channels allows consumers to tát communicate through the platform(s) of their choice. It also allows others to tát see their interactions with the company. |
Text Messages | Companies can reach out to tát their customers through text messaging to tát engage before or after any transactions take place. |
Live Chat | This option is generally available through a company's trang web and is an alternative to tát connecting over the phone. |
Customer Service and Automation
For decades, businesses in many industries have sought to tát reduce personnel costs by automating their processes to tát the greatest extent possible.
This led many companies to tát implement systems online and by phone that answer as many questions or resolve as many problems as they can without a human presence. But in the kết thúc, there are customer service issues for which human interaction is indispensable, creating a competitive advantage.
Amazon is an example of a company that is trying to tát automate a vast and complex operation. It has to tát, given that it delivered 4.75 billion packages to tát customers in the United States in 2021. Nevertheless, Amazon still offers 24-hour customer service by phone, in addition to tát tin nhắn and live chat services.
Most successful businesses recognize the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Courteous and empathetic interaction with a trained customer service representative can mean the difference between losing or retaining a customer.
$39,875
The average annual salary for a customer service representative as of July 21, 2023.
Customer Services Job Requirements
Much is expected of customer service representatives. Yet the pay for the job is low. The average salary in 2021 was about $36,920, according to tát the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some of the job expectations:
- Customer service representatives must be accessible, knowledgeable, and courteous. They require excellent listening skills and a willingness to tát talk through a resolution. Training in conflict resolution can be beneficial.
- Strong speaking skills are important. For phone staff, this means speaking clearly and slowly while maintaining a calm demeanor even if the customer doesn't.
Why Is Customer Service So Important?
Customer service is a very important part of the business structure. Having a good customer service plan in place contributes to tát sales, increases brand loyalty, generates referrals, helps retain customers, and provides businesses with a competitive advantage over others in the same industry.
Xem thêm: estimate là gì
What Are Some of the Most Important Skills of a Customer Service Agent?
Effective customer service agents are skilled at listening and being empathetic. They're also very good at problem solving and being proactive. It's important for them to tát have a level of professionalism, which means that when things get heated, they can take a step back and don't take anything to tát heart.
What Are Some Examples of Good Customer Service?
Some of the ways to tát provide effective customer service include providing a friendly and warm experience, listening, and empathizing. It's also important for customers to tát feel as though their concerns and problems are valid and that they're being accommodated. Being proactive, not taking anything personally, and following up are also some examples of good customer service.
The Bottom Line
Having a customer service plan in place can make or break a company. Putting in a good plan with the right people, proper training, and appropriate channels can lead to tát more sales, customer loyalty, and referrals. Even though things may be moving in the right direction, corporations shouldn't rest on their laurels. Keeping one step ahead of the game means continuing to tát find ways to tát improve and provide an even greater customer experience.
Bình luận