Is Customer Service Important For any Online Business?

6 min readJul 10, 2023

Customer service is more than being polite to customers. It is an integral part of running any online business, one that impacts the bottom line, and the way your company is perceived by the public.

In addition to helping grow your business, great customer service shows your customers who you are and that you are willing and able to help them with their problems.

By providing great customer service, online businesses recoup the costs of acquiring customers and cultivate a loyal following, which increases their database, serves as case studies, and offers reviews and recommendations.

What Is Customer Service?

Customer service can be defined as the service you provide your customer at the time of sale and after the product is purchased. It is believed that online businesses offering good customer service have higher customer retention.

Great customer service leads to favorable reviews for your online store, as well as recommendations through word-of-mouth, which may result in more business. After all, great service comes from the top, and you are much more likely to represent your business in ways that will lead to satisfied customers and repeat business.

Furthermore, a well-trained team of customer service professionals can reflect a positive corporate image while also helping you reach and keep customers.

We can further divide the importance of Customer Service into three different segments:

The importance of customer service in Marketing

Customer service can play a key role in your marketing strategy, as it attracts the most potential customers.

Here are some points:

Creates a Reputation:

By offering top-notch customer service, you are adding value to your company’s brand, strengthening your reputation in the marketplace, and showing, by example, that you care about the people buying your products or services.

If your customers cannot trust you to deliver good products and services, then they have no reason to stick with your brand. Anything that is coveted that you can give to your customers will improve the level of appreciation that they will feel for your company and, therefore, for your offerings.

Helps In Customer Retention:

When your customers enjoy their experience using your products, they are more likely to spend money on repeated purchases. It is cheaper to acquire new customers, and the returning, loyal ones are more likely to purchase from your company as well.

Creates Word Of Mouth:

Businesses that have satisfied customers are safer in the long term because their customers are acting like a resource for them and indirectly starting to promote their products amongst their friends, families, and other relevant individuals. Your customers become the most cost-effective form of word-of-mouth advertisement for your brand, as long as you give them reasons to become one.

Customers Feel valued:

Listening to customers who are telling you that there is an improvement they want, based on their experiences, is what will propel your business forward. Letting customers know you appreciate their importance is one of the best ways to gain their trust.

If you make customers feel like you are unconcerned about their needs or concerns, that will be reflected in the audience’s perception of your company’s values and priorities.

Furthermore, if your customers see you conducting surveys, tracking metrics, and collecting feedback to improve their experiences, that is what convinces them that your brand is keeping customers as its number one priority.

Customer satisfaction is important because it gives entrepreneurs and marketers metrics for managing and improving their businesses.

Customer Satisfaction:

Many businesses think of customer satisfaction as marketing speak, which measures how the products and services a company provides meet or exceed the expectations of customers. Since customer satisfaction plays such an integral part in overall business operations in an ever-growing company, it is essential to have a few metrics for customer satisfaction calculated and monitored. Satisfaction plays an essential role in the amount of income that the customer contributes to your company.

Importance Of Customer Service In Sales

Customer service can even help you increase the sales of your product, as customers love soft-spoken and well-mannered people who are always ready to help them.

Below are some benefits of Customer Service in Sales.

Increased Sales:

New users will have confidence in your sales team's ability to recommend products that meet their needs, creating an easier shopping experience both for customers and for your employees.

When you prioritize the needs of your customers, their experiences will consistently improve during their buying journey.

Profitability:

Customer Service has a direct and significant effect on the profitability of your company, since your Customer Service Team acts as a first-line response to the needs of your customers, and is critical to retaining them over the long term.

Can Bring Collaborations and Partnerships:

Great customer service opens doors for new partnerships, particularly when other businesses see just how well you care for your existing customers. Good service matters not only to existing customers but also to potential customers.

Importance Of Customer Service In Management

With better customer service comes great business management as well. Suddenly, you will feel everything is going smoothly and on track. Head down below on some points.

Customer Loyalty:

When your employees see that your business is focused on providing outstanding customer service, they are more likely to be advocates for the business. When other businesses see how well you are doing in terms of customer loyalty and brand recognition, they will want in on that.

Customer Experience:

Investing in your customer experience helps kick-start your sales pipeline, as devoted customers help you gain new customers, at no cost, convincing prospects to engage with your brand. This is key to keeping customers engaged and getting them to consistently engage with your brand.

Different customers are affected and stuck with the brand with just a positive experience, while just one negative one may send them running toward the competition.

According to a recent study, 60% of customers are unwilling to switch brands after just one negative customer service experience, meaning that you have to deliver excellent customer service to keep customers around as well as to gain customers over competitors. RightNow’s study revealed that 89 percent of the people who stopped doing business with the company due to bad customer service switched to competitors.

In fact, according to a Zendesk study, 84% of people said that customer service is essential in deciding whether or not to purchase products from a company. While we know this is not always true, making customers feel that they are heard and taken care of appropriately will guarantee their loyalty and business.

Customers should feel assured they are buying from the right place, and a trained customer service team can help achieve this.

Brand Image:

Your customer support team helps influence customers and communicate what you want your brand’s image to be. Great customer support does more than just put a smile on a customer’s lips, it helps understand them, define your organization, and, more importantly, influence your bottom line. Loyal customers offer good testimonials and favorable online reviews, which help businesses reinforce their brands.

CONCLUSION

It is no surprise that Customer service is essential for any kind of e-commerce or online business. However, in today’s digital world, you can handle all your business operations with great ease, thanks to E-commerce platforms.

Speaking of which, e-commerce platform QPe provides personalized online selling platforms for all kinds of businesses. You can handle all your front-and-back-office operations with features like POS all equipped in all-in-one website builder. On the other hand, with your own platform, you can reach a wider audience using various marketing tools.

So what are you waiting for? Create your own Online Store with QPe and increase your profit.

This article was originally published on QPe’s blog. Please click on the link below to learn more.

Source: https://www.goqpe.com/blog/importance-of-customer-service-for-online-business/