The Impact of Customer Service on Customer Loyalty and Word of Mouth
Posted by Hoyt Mann on Wed, Apr 06, 2011 @ 07:44 PM
"Executives need to be educated on the impact of problems on customer loyalty, the failure of most customers to complain, the potential impact of service on loyalty, and impact of service on Word of Mouth."
Natalie Petouhoff, et al. The Economic Necessity of Customer Service. Business Process and Applications Professionals. Forrester, Inc. January 21, 2009
This was from some material I gathered for a report on customer service optimization. It struck me as strange that the C-Suite inhabitants could remain blithely unaware of customer service's effect on customer satsifaction. After all, customer service is the first, and often only, part of the business that a customer interacts with.
But I can also understand how customer service and support became the poster child of poorly paid and minimally guided employees. It is unfortunate that some bad apples have ruined the whole barrel. But that is what has happened.
A few companies tried to get away with customer service and support, slashing the budget to the bone, only to become instant sensations on Twitter and YouTube for customer abuse. It didn't help that several high profile companies also showed a lack of ethics making the world in general extremely untrusting of business executives.
Don't let this happen to you. If you have come through the latest economic calamities in one piece, you have your customer service and support people to thank.
Nobody had any money, so sales couldn't sell. Marketing tried to keep up the interest in your products but may have been whistling in the wind for several months as things imploded.
Great customer service and support is what kept your customers from leaving. Or if they felt they had to leave because of prices, they came back as soon as they were able.
The people who talk directly to customers, especially in times of stress such as a network that is down or extra training is needed, are the ones who make the impressions. The view of the customer service and support department comes straight from you, the CXOs.
You set attitudes and culture for the whole company. It can be easy to get bogged down in day-to-day details of running a company, but just as you pay close attention to sales, marketing, R&D, and manufacturing, you must keep in the loop on how your customers are feeling about your company.
The ones to make those customers feel one way or another is customer service and support. Set the attitude. Hire, train, and retain the best you can find and let them keep your customers happy.
