The role of customer service is crucial for any business, let alone start-ups. Good customer service paves the way to building a strong foundation for your company. The primary benefit of it is that it adds value to your services, and helps you retain your customers. It meets your customers’ expectations and ensures that they are satisfied.
In well-established organizations, the customer service department comprises policies for an organization and its employees to interact with the customers. Good quality customer service will make sure that your customer feels valued by you, appreciated, and most important part- treated fairly.
What are the benefits of good customer service?
Good customer service, albeit the rules and regulations set by you has to be a continuous process. As we looked over earlier, it helps you build trust with your customers.
As a start-up, if you look at it from the customer perspective, you will see that the customers are more likely to trust the companies that show care to them, that make them feel important and valued. So, what essentially entails in the book of good customer service is the fact that you are making your customers feel heard and valued. This helps your brand and company build loyalty and also encourages continuous business.
The other benefit of good customer service is that it keeps your customers informed. So, when you take the time to answer the queries of your customers and give them helpful advice, it shows your commitment to their satisfaction. Additionally, when you understand your customer queries, it provides you with an insight into your business, thus helping you better your services in any way possible.
Apart from this, good customer service also helps you boost your sales. As a start-up, when you take time to understand what your customers want, you improve it on the back end to better match their expectations. By doing this, you are retaining the existing customers and also acquiring new ones.
Standing out from the competition, isn’t this we all have on the vision boards, and constantly on our minds? Especially, as start-ups, it becomes a part of the vision and mission to be different from the rest. Though many factors may contribute to this, one thing you should never forget is that good customer service also makes you stand out. This is because most of the businesses are competing for new customers. At times like these, providing great customer service can give you a competitive edge.
Mark this as a note to yourself- Customers tend to remember the companies that go out of their way to provide them with a good experience.
Finally, if you want to create a positive brand image, good customer service plays the most important part. It is observed that the quality of your customer service reflects directly on the overall image of your brand. So companies that ensure excellent customer service are perceived as trustworthy and reliable. This helps attract new also customers and also builds loyalty the existing customers.
Concluding, as a start-up, providing good customer service is essential for establishing your brand.
Key Points of Good Customer Service-
- Helps you build trust with the customers.
- Keeps the customers informed.
- Helps you boost sales.
- Creates a positive brand image.
- Helps you stand out from the competition.
And if you still think you don’t need to take your customer service up a notch, have a look at this-
What are the effects of bad customer service?
To speak in terms of the GenZ, bad customer service in today’s digital communication age is a big red flag! Addressing the elephant in the room, the rise of social media only means an increased potential for any negative feedback to go viral. Simply put, if the companies fail to provide even a barely satisfactory experience to their customers, they can find themselves in hot water, very quickly.
Apart from the public backlash, there are a number of other factors that affect companies for poor customer service.
The first thing is the loss of business that comes from losing customers. Now, this is most likely to happen if the customers do not feel heard. If your start-up doesn’t respond to customer inquiries, or give a response to them, it can make your customers lose interest in the brand, and they are more likely to take their business to some other brand. Especially as a start-up, this kind of bad reputation can prove to be devastating.
The other way it affects your company is the amount of time and the kind of resources it takes to address customer complaints and resolve them. At times, for start-ups responding to customer inquiries and complaints can seem time-consuming. It may require additional staff and resources and comes with an investment of time and energy. This can at times take away their focus from other crucial tasks. But if not corrected at the right time, its negative impact can pile up, affecting every aspect of your business slowly.
Finally, there is a possibility of legal action if the customers feel your company was not able to adequately respond to their complaints. As bad as legal action is, its effects can be prolonged, meaning it has the ability to put a strain on the budget and resources of your start-up.
In conclusion, being a start-up, you should never underestimate the power of good customer service. It starts with a call or a meeting, and has long-lasting effects on the future of your business- both in a good and a bad way! Good customer service ensures lasting customer relationships and also helps your company avoid any costs that come with bad customer service.
Key Points of Bad Customer Service-
- Bad customer service in the digital age is a big red flag.
- Bad customer service means loss of customers, ultimately the loss of your business.
- Your business can lose the credibility and trust of the customers.
- Your business runs at potential risk of legal action.
In Conclusion
When you start a company, always keep a 360-degree lookout to improve the services. And if this means investing in customer service training for employees, then be it! It will only affect your company for the good.
“By investing in good service training for your employees, you are signing up for a bright and successful future of your business!”
