How to grow your business with great customer service

Have you ever been to a restaurant because a friend told you how friendly the staff were? On the flip side, you’ve probably deliberately avoided eating somewhere because someone told you the waiter was rude, or the manager didn’t care.

Customer service can make or break your small business. Give customers something negative to say and you’ll see it reflected in unflattering reviews resulting in decreased sales. On the other hand, with a few easy strategies you can level up your customer service and make sure your customers become your biggest champions.

Read on to find out: 

• What makes good customer service
• The benefits of getting customer service right
• The price of poor customer service
• Examples of keeping your customers happy

Good customer service means listening to your customers’ needs and acting upon them, engaging with them in a meaningful way and letting them know that they matter. It means handling complaints and problems with good grace and following through on any promises you make. 

Responsiveness is another aspect of good customer service — returning customer calls or emails promptly and keeping them updated with progress. This also means following up on all feedback, whether positive or negative.

The benefits of good customer service cannot be underestimated, not least the positive impact it can have on your bottom line. That’s not the only plus though; treating customers well can:

• Increase customer loyalty
• Create cross-selling opportunities 
• Increase the amount customers are willing to spend 
• Push up buying frequency 
• Create positive word-of-mouth referrals 
• Reduce customer churn 
• Boost customer retention 

For every successful business, customer service is front and centre of everything they do. There are many things you can do to make it an integral part of your business.

1. Make your customer’s life easier

What you sell should solve your customer’s problem and the way they purchase from you should be as user-friendly as possible too. Creating a secure, easy-to-use online service with relevant notification emails can improve customer retention rates. So too can a seamless experience face-to-face. Accounting software such as Countingup can send your customer invoices and keep your finances on track ensuring that there are no hiccups down the line.

2. Turn a negative experience positive

If you experience negative customer feedback it can leave you feeling deflated. Don’t think of it as a set-back however, think of it as an opportunity to right something wrong. If you apologise and put the issue right with a discount, refund or reward, it’s possible that the customer might still have a good experience of your brand. 

3. Giving your customers multichannel support

We are more connected than ever but that also means there are more ways than ever for customers to be vocal about you. You can use that to your advantage though by making sure you’re easily contactable on all media whether it’s Facebook Messenger, Twitter or via an automated chatbot pop-up on your site.

4. Thank regular customers with small gestures

How valued does it make you feel if a company gets in touch with a token freebie to thank you for your custom? Regularly letting your customers know you appreciate them can go a long way.

5. Deal with complaints before they happen

If you know there is going to be a service issue or delay in shipping, tell the customer about it first. Don’t wait for them to complain. Being proactive takes the sting out the problem and lets them know you’re working to fix it. Customers understand problems arise from time to time; it’s how you deal with them that matters.

However, you decide to implement effective customer service into your business, the key is to do it regularly and proactively. If you do that you’ll have happy customers who may go on to become your biggest fans.

Make more time for good customer service by automating your financial admin. Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that’s saving thousands of UK business owners time and money. Learn more here.