(Newswire.net — August 25, 2022) — Customer satisfaction is what will guarantee the success or failure of your business. Through a series of data and metrics, you can understand what people think of your products or services and if they are satisfied with the customer experience that your company offers. Among the items to be evaluated are shopping experience, brand loyalty, product performance, and customer service quality.
It is no exaggeration to say that customer satisfaction reflects an authentic X-ray of how your business is seen. Everyone wants satisfied and happy customers, right? And according to a recent report, 59 percent of American consumers stop doing business with a company after a few bad experiences, even when they love that brand or product; another 17 percent will leave a company after just one bad experience.
There are two main ways to ensure a healthy relationship with your customers: provide outstanding customer service and technical support. Many businesses confuse the two, but they are tools with their own characteristics and benefits. Let’s take a look at how they complement each other and why you should invest in both right now.
What is Customer Service?
Simply put, customer service is the support you give to your customers before, during, and after they buy your products/services. Many think this boils down to helping the customer if a problem arises, but it goes much further than that.
For example, outstanding customer service in retail identifies repeat customers and addresses them by name and in a personalized way, creating exclusive promotions for them or simply sending an email every now or then based on their purchasing patterns.
Outstanding customer service is also linked to a staff that knows all the details about the company’s products and catalog. With this knowledge, your workers can clearly answer consumer questions, discuss the benefits of the items, avoid that memorized salesperson’s conversation, and even explain to shoppers how to use the product in the best possible way.
Finally, outstanding customer service does not attempt to outsource blame and assumes responsibility for errors with deliveries or defective products. In the world of customer service, this is especially critical. It’s been observed that an increasing number of businesses have been turning to technology to support their customer service functions, with 37% of IT tasks being outsourced. But in every scenario, it’s the well-trained employees who turn a negative customer experience into a positive one. They respond to criticism and bad reviews in a friendly way, transforming a potentially damaging situation into an opportunity to gain customer loyalty.
What is Technical Support?
Technical support is the team trained to monitor problems that may arise in products or services after they’re purchased by a consumer – especially in the case of computer systems and electronic devices. This staff can doactically guide clients remotely (via phone, email, or Internet chat) to resolve different issues.
These are some examples of technical support services:
- Run computer or network diagnostics.
- Remotely fix bugs.
- Help the consumer configure computer systems or electronic devices.
- Provide troubleshooting assistance based on the information sent by the customer (without the need to physically analyze the device).
- Suggest updates and new technologies to solve more serious problems.
Many companies train their own crew to deal with these issues. Others are investing in outsourced technical support to ensure the staff is available 24/7. Whatever you choose, the goal is to help the customer quickly at a time when they need it most.
What are the Differences Between Customer Service and Technical Support?
Both customer service and technical support play a fundamental role in the process of attracting and retaining customers, but they are not the same thing. As the name says, customer service is assistance more focused on the customer’s experience before and after the sale. Technical support deals more directly with the product or service, helping to solve technical issues.
Simply put, technical support is part of a good customer service strategy: you’ve already sold, you’ve got the cash in hand, but you want to ensure that your customer continues to have a good experience with your product, receiving quick assistance. Customer service does not deal with technical issues (although it can also do so) and is more focused on understanding the customer’s needs and offering the most suitable product/service.
In the end, both complement each other and allow your company to offer a better customer experience. If you can’t have your own staff to take care of this, look for the services of a well-rounded call center company that offers both customer service and outsourced support.
Keep Your Customers Close
To cut to the chase, your business can’t keep customers happy 100 percent of the time. But customer service and technical support strategies allow you to work more directly on customer satisfaction. Today there are many physical and online stores offering the same products and services as you. 80 percent of consumers value their experience as much as the product they buy. So how you treat your clients must shine to give them an experience they will remember – and want to repeat.