We all know that providing excellent customer support is important. But did you know that the quality of your customer support affects your business’ bottom line?
By increasing the quality of your support services, you can actually increase your profit. And, by offering poor customer service, you risk negatively impacting your revenue. Below are 7 reasons why customer support can affect your bottom line:
1. Customer support directly affects retention
Customer retention is absolutely vital for any company. This is because retaining an existing customer costs significantly less, both in terms of marketing and maintenance, than landing a new one. Additionally, repeat customers are more likely to spend more money on each purchase. So, if you want to make sure your profits are hearty and your retention rates are high, you must provide amazing customer service.
In fact, over 90% of customers who are dissatisfied with your customer service experience will, rather than telling you if something is wrong and how you can improve it, just not come back. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to provide consistently high quality support services to help increase your retention rate and improve your bottom line.
2. Customer Support Impacts Conversion Rates
Your customer’s experience with your support team can directly affect whether or not they actually carry out a purchase that they set out to make. All too often we see poor support result in a customer abandoning the purchase. In fact, 78 percent of consumers have bailed on a purchase that they intended to make because of poor customer service. That means that if you’re not providing helpful, informative customer service, you risk losing business.
3. It’s really tough to make up for a bad customer experience
Sure, we all make mistakes, but when it comes to customer support, it’s in your best interest not to make them. Because it takes as many as 12 good experiences for a business to make up for a lousy one, just one mistake has the ability to drive customers away and cost your business a lot of cash.
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4. Customer support impacts your company’s reputation
Your company’s reputation is everything. A good reputation could be the difference between an average business and a very successful one. Unfortunately, when it comes to support services, bad news travels fast and far. In fact, twice as many people hear about a bad customer service experience than a good one. That means that it’s well worth the trouble to take time to address any issues that your callers have. It will enhance your company’s reputation, which could lead to more customers via word of mouth in the future.
5. Quality customer support can help you attract new customers
While it’s true that a tarnished reputation could lead to a loss of customers, it’s also true that a good customer support reputation could actually attract new business. That means that by making sure your support services are in tip-top shape, you have the potential to gain new customers and make more money, just based on word of mouth advertising alone. In fact, three out of five people say that they’d happily swap companies in search of a better service experience. Improve your bottom line through retention by providing a good support experience, but also let your reputation rise and help you bring in new customers too.
6. Quality support may allow you to raise your prices
If you go about it in a careful and gradual way, having really strong customer service may allow you to actually charge more for your services or products. That’s because most consumers are willing to spend a little more cash to guarantee that they will receive a quality customer service experience. If you decide to go this route, you won’t regret it. In fact, 70 percent of U.S. consumers are willing to spend more money to go with a company who they believe will provide top-notch customer service. So go ahead and find the sweet spot. Improve your customer support dramatically and, as you do, experiment with raising your prices a little too.
7. Happy customers spend more
The emotional experience a customer has during an interaction with your company directly impacts how much money they are willing to spend. In fact, 70% of buying experiences are based on the emotional experience of the customer and how he or she feels she is being treated. So by really focusing in on the quality that your support team offers, you can make customers feel happy and valued, which will directly impact sales.
Customer support is the backbone of any business. It has the ability to make or break a customer’s experience and, therefore, impacts your company’s bottom line in many ways. Good customer service can flat out make you more money. But remember, just because a customer isn’t complaining doesn’t mean you should automatically assume that they’re satisfied with your support experience.
Only about 4% of dissatisfied customers let the company know that they’re unhappy with their service. Just keep in mind that there’s always room for improvement so keep working hard to provide the best customer support possible.
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