Poor Customer Service Shortchanges a Sound Investment
There’s so much you can gain from providing good customer service – including earning return customers and their referrals, along with creating a better image in your market through word-of-mouth. Any of this hits home in your bottom line, but studies also point to other financial implications.
For example, good customer service is shown to “reduce sensitivity to price.” This is research language that essentially means that when you provide good customer service, you don’t have to drop prices to get business – because customers who feel they’re getting good customer service will pay more for that experience. Also, when you need to increase prices, a history of good customer service has laid the groundwork that makes the price increase acceptable (or at least tolerable) for your customers.
So, good service enables higher prices and price increases when needed. Is there some part of that you don’t like?
The other side of the equation is the cost of poor customer service – which is lost customers, lost business and bad reputation. But when customers do leave for your competitor, you might not even know that your bad service sent them away. Often, customers don’t tell you they’re not going to use your services again. But they do tell their friends and family.
Remember, the value of your customer increases through each additional service and installation job, and the continued relationship is critical to maximizing your marketing investment.
Acquiring new customers can cost five times more than retaining current customers. Previous customers spend their money 33% faster than first-timers, are 40% more likely to buy an upsell offer, are three times more likely to refer others and cost one sixth the amount to retain as they did to attract.
Serving them well is well worth your time.