The Power of the Customer:

Why Good Customer Service Matters

We live in a world where all of us, without exception – come face to face with customer service on a daily basis. It can be as simple as the service provided by a bus driver, or the common example a retail staff.

Though, I think most of us would brush off average customer service and not think twice about it. Customers are highly sensitive to bad customer experiences. Without a doubt, a single customer with a bad experience can have a lasting effect. Both on the customer and the company.

Training

Overlooked Service

Although, often times good customer service gets overlooked. Some customers may feel compelled to write in to a company due to good service. However, bad service served more of a motivation for customers to write in. It’s normal though, negative experiences often linger in our minds a lot longer.

Why Good Customer Service Matters

It’s obvious a company cannot afford to provide below par service. Customers would not take lightly to such a situation. Why shop with a company that doesn’t make you feel good, right?

But what do customers consider bad service?

This article written by Rick Conlow on LinkedIn – a Management Consultant – explains several factors that contribute to bad customer experiences. For example, 50% of staff would fail to assist with customer inquiries appropriately. Even worst still 73% of customers related to incompetent or rude customer support.

Why Good Customer Service Matters

An Experience.

We all have experiences with the above problems. For myself, I was looking for a router the other day. Note that I have no idea what’s what and needed to know if it was any good. Pointing to two different routers, I asked the staff which was better. The staff then pointed to one of the routers I was holding and told me it was better. When I asked why, the staff proceeded to show me the antenna of said router and only uttered the words “it’s wider.” The problem with this being, it was insufficient information. I could either understand it as being that the design was wider, did the staff mean the ranged was wider or a number of different things.

Both routers cost the same and had the same specs. It was utterly frustrating. As you can imagine I walked out convinced not to make the purchase.

You can also read more about how customers feel about bad service in a retail setting in our article here.

It Pays to Provide Good Service

Although, it may often go uncomplimented. Good customer service results in returned and repeated customers. These customers may feel comfortable with a specific staff, due to the service provided, demeanour, politeness and many more. Retail staff have customers they call “regulars” and these customers remain loyal to the brand as a by-product of good service.

Mystery shopping allows us to gauge the baseline of customer service. Whether the service provided has met the standards put forth by the parent company. Especially for international companies with a presence in multiple cultural markets. Using mystery shopping allows us to evaluate the service provided in different markets, using customers/shoppers of those markets. And further pinning the results against the standards of the parent company.

Can mystery shopping help you? Find our more with us.