The importance of Customer Service
For many years, Customer Service was seen as a cost center who just answers customers questions. Traditionally, Europe is known for subpar customer service, especially in the retail and tourism sectors. Bad Customer Service has a direct impact on (insert something about revenue). One such example of unhappiness due to poor service is “The Paris Syndrome”. This is a phenomenon believed to be the cause of the decrease in tourists from Japanese since 2015. Companies as Zappos changed this perspective, now customer service teams just not answer customer questions but their main goal is to delight the customers. This philosophy can be called customer care and be seen as keeping permanently your customer in mind. It’s always makingthe best decision for your customers even though sometimes it’s uneasy. It can be difficult to go the extra mile even when it’s a simple gesture such as a personal letter or the addition of candy with a coffee. As they are outsiders, to differentiate themselves, startups provided extra care to their consumers. For example, on health insurance business, Alan answer by chat in less than 2 minutes even big insurance companies take hours or days to answer.
In care we trust
Startups are newcomers to the market. They don’t have a long history like traditional corporations or small businesses. They know that to conquer a market, they have to build trust with their customers.
The best way to build trust is to provide exceptional customer service.
Why Spendesk is one of the expense management software most used in France? Their product is quite good but customers love Spendesk also because a good customer service is in their DNA. It’s natural for them to give a quick, sympathetic, and complete answers. When you contact Spendesk you don’t need to send two emails to get answers and complementary informations. In B2B or B2C in all industries startups provide care to make a difference. I remember my first order for the startup archiduchesse, an e-commerce site specialized in socks. The socks were carefully wrapped in silk paper and there were stickers in the package. These small details made me feel considered and created my loyalty to this brand. Consumers have changed, they are more sophisticated due to the tremendous amount of information online. They know the price the competitors are using to sell the same items and how satisfied other customers have been with their purchases
Corporations need more care
Consumption habits are changing and Millenials are not loyal to brands or companies like baby boomers were in the past. Due to the size of their companies,corporates like traditional banks, take time to evolve their customer service and to now face startups competition. Amazon has more market shares than other retailers such as Walmart, Auchan, or Carrefour. To survive, corporations should place customers in the center of their businesses. They should rethink their internal processes to favor their customers. For example, telecommunication companies continue to provide bad customer service at a worldwide level and had an increasing number of complaints. A study from Bain & Company explains that 80% of millenials are ready to change their traditional insurer by a new comer. Corporations have to maintain the trust that they’ve built for years to still be here in the future which can happen only by improving their customer service.
Care everywhere
To be more efficient, all organizations, public or private, should rethink how they can improve their relationship with their users. A good customer service/users service is an opportunity to make growing businesses, to build trust and get a good reputation. Good customer service is not rocket science, it’s about listening your customers and fulfill their needs giving transparent and complete answer. It’s about gathering feature request from you customer and help your product team to develop a product that fits more and more the needs of your customers.
