Customer service is a system of different types of interaction between the seller and the customer, the aim of which is to create trust and belief in the company or brand not only at the time of the commercial relationship, but also afterwards. Therefore, in terms of day-to-day interactions, customer service offers the customer not only an answer to his or her needs, but also additional value to products and services, thus building positive and lasting business relationships for many years to come. This is evidenced by studies that confirm the effectiveness of customer service solutions.
What is customer service?
Customer service refers directly to customer service and can mean both a direct conversation between two people and a communication process carried out by an automated system. In practice, customer service activities involve customers getting quick and comprehensive answers to all their questions and giving clear instructions by e-mail or in person. However, the whole communication process also has a broader meaning and involves the need for a company or brand to act empathetically towards a customer’s problems. An example of this is the FAQ pages, which allow the customer to solve their problem themselves, and the entire marketing strategy created by the world’s best-known brands, such as Google or Apple, which identify with their customers in terms of ethical values and ‘accompany’ them every day.
Why are customer service activities so important in terms of business and brand development?
The report ‘The Cost of Poor Customer Service: The Economic Impact of the Customer Experience and Engagement’ shows that poor customer service results in huge losses for companies, which can be worth up to more than $3 billion a year. These are directly linked to customers either abandoning the company’s services altogether or leaving for competitors. Meanwhile, it is far more cost-effective to retain a customer than to acquire a new one, including persuading an ex-customer to return, which raises the need to overcome the peculiar barrier of obstacles that caused them to abandon a company or brand in the past. Hence the great need to reach for customer service solutions that offer the possibility of retaining existing customers.
A customer who feels valued by a company or brand and who, moreover, identifies with its ethical values, ideas and marketing activities becomes a loyal customer, thus being a unique value for any company or brand. And this is what customer service activities aim to do, with the long-term objective of building positive business relationships that begin at the point of signing a contract and continue uninterrupted for many years, being a kind of response to customers’ expectations and needs.