What is the Definition of Reliable Customer Service?
Customer service is "what the customer perceives and remembers of the service they received," according to an article on CSM, an eMagazine for customer service professionals. The article, written by Kevin Dwyer, says that most of what a customer remembers about service he receives occurs during "moments of truth," which are interactions between a customer and a service provider. To deliver service that customers rate as reliable, the service provider must understand when these moments occur and ensure that they leave a positive impression on the customer.
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Features
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For a company's customer service to be perceived as reliable, the customer must consistently experience positive service each time she interacts with a customer service representative. Reliable service also means that the service providers are readily available to assist customers, follow through on promises made to the customer, and correct any errors or issues in a timely and efficient manner.
Examples
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An example of reliable customer service is assisting customers both in person and over the phone without making them wait an unreasonable amount of time before their needs are addressed. Reliable customer service is also the ability to correct issues or errors efficiently, politely and with little or no inconvenience to the customer. According to CustomersAreAlways.com, about 95 percent of complaining customers will do business with an organization again if their issue is resolved on the spot. Keeping a promise to a customer, like returning his call within the time frame he was told to expect a callback, is another example of reliable customer service.
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Importance
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According to an article entitled "Customer Service Advice" from Gaebler.com, "without customers you do not have a company. Without repeat customers, you do not have a sustainable company." Any company offering a product or service to individuals or other businesses should consider making reliable customer service a top priority, because unsatisfied customers will not only take their business to a competitor--but they will also tell others about their negative experience. A typical dissatisfied customer will tell six to 10 people about their experience, according to CustomersAreAlways.com.
Cost
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Customers leave organizations and take their business to a competitor when they do not perceive the service provided to them as reliable, and this is costly to a company that relies on customers for profitability. CSM says that 68 percent of customers who leave a company do so because of a feeling of indifference toward them from the staff, and it can take 12 positive service experiences to make up for one negative incident. It is extremely expensive to lose customers to poor service, because it costs five to six times more to win new customers than it does to retain existing ones.
Expert Insight
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Edward de Bono, the inventor of lateral thinking, and Robert Heller, the renowned business management guru, advise companies to strive toward reliable customer service to retain customers. De Bono and Heller say that Sears, a U.S. retail giant, has researched and established a clear correlation between employee attitudes, customer attitudes and financial results.
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References
- Photo Credit communication service image by Julia Britvich from Fotolia.com
