Every marketer I talk to wants word of mouth. They want people to talk about them, to “go viral” and have their product be sold by rave reviews from newly minted acolytes who spread the word unceasingly to their friends. Then I ask them about their customer service. And I usually get a blank stare. This, I tell them, is exactly why they won’t get that word of mouth that they’re praying for.
Without great customer service you severely limit the opportunities to build the relationships with your customers that get them on your side.
Sure, you may have a product that wows people out of the gate. But that will likely be a small percentage of your customers. The rest will need to be convinced. The rest will have problems, challenges and questions that need to be answered. A billing problem that isn’t resolved will leave a bad taste in customer’s mouth – no matter how amazing the product is.
Companies that win realize that customer service is a core asset to the brand and to the product. They realize it is a marketing opportunity to take a customer problem and turn it into a memorable experience that is worth talking about – spreading to their friends. And they don’t just pay customer service lip service. They invest in it. Just like any other marketing effort. They put real money towards better training, better hiring, better technology – all to improve that valuable customer interaction.
The hardest part of any marketers job is acquiring new customers. It’s the most expensive of any effort. Retaining customers and delighting them, in contrast, is far less expensive, yet few precious dollars are allocated to making sure that each experience with an existing customer turns them into a fan.
One of my favorite sayings is “If I only had $1,000 to invest in marketing, I’d put $900 towards ensuring great customer service experiences.”
So how much do you value your existing customers? And what are you doing to ensure that they get an experience so memorable and satisfying that they’ll go out and help sell your product for you?
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In my last postion at a very small web marketing firm, B2B customer service was extremely important. Our clients were very small business (mom & pop shops, online only business, etc). Because our agency was full service (web design, hosting, marketing, ecommerce and more), customer's problems were quite diverse. We handled them two ways first by web, second by phone. If the issue was simple enough, a client could make a support ticket on our site and everday someone in our office fixed each ticket. But we also provided great phone support as well. Our clients appreciated the fact that they could get real people on the line to help them find a solution.
Thanks Alex for sharing. I agree that even for small companies customer service is critical. Using an escalation system (such as the one you described) is a great way for small companies to do an exceptional job of servicing their customers – even without a dedicated department or staff person.
Thanks Alex for sharing. I agree that even for small companies customer service is critical. Using an escalation system (such as the one you described) is a great way for small companies to do an exceptional job of servicing their customers – even without a dedicated department or staff person.