Every business has its priorities. Identifying and allocating resources towards what matters most is key to growth, especially on a tighter budget. Some companies will put marketing at the top of the list. Others might want to hire more talent and build a better team. Then there are businesses where customer service is everything.

Yours might be one of them. And if it is, you need to adjust your strategy accordingly, as it can make-or-break your ability to build and maintain relationships with customers. There are benefits to having solid customer service, too. 

Happy customers mean happy employees, which can improve productivity. Loyal customers mean more repeat buyers and lower acquisition costs. You can also take advantage of insights to improve your product or service, while testimonials can be used to strengthen your marketing strategy. The list goes on. 

But should customer service be your top priority? Here are five industries where that’s certainly the case.  

Retail

Both online and traditional retail is just as much about the experience as the products. In fact, experience is a bigger factor in turning a casual purchaser into a loyal customer. Successful retailers know this. That’s why Zappos is revered for its kind gestures and why T-We Tea, a tea store in San Francisco, hands each customer a personalized note. 

Good customer service is at the foundation of a memorable retail experience. It’s what motivates shoppers to keep coming back to your business instead of the competition. It’s what helps you accumulate optimistic reviews and a positive brand perception that encourages new customers to visit your store. 

So, if you’re in the retail industry, be sure to invest some time into building your customer service infrastructure. 

Weddings

Take a hint from LVL Weddings and Events, which describes themselves as a customer service company that happens to be experts at weddings. Simply getting a potential client onboard, one that is willing to spend (what is usually a fortune) with your business, requires being able to provide a great experience. 

From there, you need to listen to requests, understand requirements, source the right decorations, stay on top of deadlines, keep in touch with customers, and so forth. Doing any of this requires good customer service. 

Financial Services

One place where you can rely on customers to have high expectations is financial services. After all, you play a role in managing or facilitating the management of people’s money, which is incredibly important to them. 

Here, promptness and transparency are a must. You need to be able to react quickly, be it when a customer’s card is stolen and they need it canceled, or when someone needs assistance opening an account. You also need to prove that your service is trustworthy and that your customer’s money and details are safe in your hands. 

Restaurants

You can have the most delicious menu in town, but it will be of little use if the people serving it don’t know how to make the people eating it happy. Of course, that’s not always easy. Even an experienced waiter can be quickly overwhelmed by a large table where too many unsatisfied customers are seated, which is usually when the manager comes in. 

Both need to know how to work under pressure without losing the smile on their face. This extends all the way to the kitchen, where staff need to uphold the highest possible standards when preparing meals, especially if it gets busy. It’s getting this right that brings people back. Just hire a charming waiter and see what a difference it can make. 

Startups

A major factor when launching a startup is building trust with your target audience. You need to make potential customers feel confident in your business, and good customer service can help with this by putting curious customers at ease and providing compelling reasons to open their wallets. 

Moreover, good customer service helps you build a better reputation, which can assist with talent recruitment. It can also reduce marketing expenses by bringing in more repeat customers. As we touched on earlier, happy customers also mean positive feedback and a better public image, which in and of itself serves as free marketing. 

The Importance of Customer Service to Any Business

While customer service might be of utmost importance in the above-mentioned industries, it’s worth noting why investing in your customer service team is a good idea regardless of the type of business you run. 

Here are a couple of reasons why customer service is important to any business. 

 

  • Retention vs. Acquisition: Increasing your number of return customers by just 5% can cause a 25% increase in profit. This is partly because customers who come back spend more than new ones. Retention also costs less than acquisition, and customer service is in favor of the former. 

 

  • Brand Image: Consumers want to support businesses that care. Having strong values and a mission that speaks to your customers will win them over. Customer service is an ideal avenue for representing your brand image and values. It relays to customers what makes your business worth supporting. 
  • Referrals: Happy customers tell their friends and family about your business. Then those people will tell their friends and family, and so the chain reaction continues. Good customer service is essentially free advertising. 
  • Paying More: According to one report, 86% of customers will spend more money at a business to get a superior customer service experience. It’s safe to say that there are several businesses out there charging more for their products or services purely because of their top-notch customer service. 
  • Valuable Insights: Customers are your leading source of information about how you can improve their experience. A good customer service team will be able to relay useful insights that can spare you the cost of having to constantly survey customers and perform other types of market research. 

 

 

This is by no means an extensive list, but it highlights just how important customer service is in any industry. 

Now that you know why customer service is imperative to the success of your business, it’s simply a matter of how you can make yours better. All that’s left to do is to make it happen.