Poor customer service; perhaps a bigger turn-off than a date that doesn’t smell so fresh. Customer service is actually one of the few contact moments you have directly with an organization as a customer in the digital age. So, it’s important that businesses can deliver the best service to their customers. In addition, most customer service contact moments are to solve a particular problem, a perfect time to show your value as a business.
The importance of high-quality customer service
Bringing in new customers is very important as a business, and this may be a bit of an open door, but retaining customers is even more important, especially in the B2B market. Some figures to back up this idea:
- It costs 5 to 25 times more to acquire new customers than to keep existing customers happy
- A 5% customer retention rate can already lead to a 25% increase in profits
- After a positive customer experience, 89% of customers are willing to come back. After a bad experience, 61% will switch to a competitor
- In a B2B environment, 78% of customers will forgive a mistake when service has always been good in the past
We could go on sprinkling statistics like this for a while, but the point is clear. It is essential for businesses to have good customer service, and this is only becoming more important with the economic shift becoming more and more service-oriented. All right, one more statistic then: 80% of companies think they provide excellent service, but only 8%(!) of customers think they receive excellent service. So there’s work to be done!
Because in addition to the benefits that good customer service provides for your sales and overall customer satisfaction, satisfied customers can also be an additional form of free marketing for you. Think of word-of-mouth advertising and reviews on Google. So it is advisable to make a serious business out of your customer service. Our tip: start integrating your software and systems.
Influence of integrations on customer satisfaction
Good training and the right staff can already do a lot to boost your customer satisfaction. But what is often not immediately considered, are integrations. A good integrated system, between your CRM and other support tools for example, ensures that all relevant information about the customer is available in one overview.
Imagine this: a customer calls with a question about an invoice, while he has previously been in contact about a product. Normally, an employee would have to pull this data from different systems – the sales information from the CRM and the invoice details from a separate financial system. This takes time and increases the chances of errors, incomplete answers or repetition. All frustrating for the customer
Central database
With a central database due to integrated tools, employees can see all information instantly. Whether it’s purchase history, open questions or payment information, everything is conveniently located in one place. This makes it possible to answer questions much faster and provide context, which not only saves time, but also ensures more accurate answers. This faster and more accurate service makes customers feel that they are truly being heard and helped, resulting in an improved relationship between the company and the customer.
In addition, this access to comprehensive customer information provides opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.
For example, an employee can see, while answering a question, that a customer may not have the right package for the question being asked.
By providing the right information at the right time, the customer can be subtly pointed to relevant options that enrich their experience or product. This not only helps improve customer relationships, but also increases loyalty and revenue per customer.
In short, integrating systems leads to more efficient, faster and more accurate service, allowing companies not only to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, but also to add value by recommending relevant additional products or services.
Impact of integrations for employees
Integrations between CRM systems and support tools have a direct impact not only on customers, but also on the work experience of employees. One of the most frustrating aspects of customer service is constantly having to switch between different systems. Employees working with multiple tools that are not connected must constantly look up data in different databases and manually merge information. This not only takes a lot of time, but also increases the likelihood of errors.
Get the right info at a glance
By integrating these systems, employees no longer have to switch between different screens and tools. They have all the information they need about the customer available within one system, which means they can respond faster and spend less time on administrative tasks. This efficiency gives them room to focus on the actual customer demand rather than on finding the right data.
No repetitive tasks
Automation also plays an important role in alleviating repetitive work. Many repetitive tasks, such as entering customer information or sending standard responses, can be automated through integrations. This not only saves time, but also allows employees to focus on more complex questions that require more attention.
Fewer frustrations
Another benefit is that integrations not only increase the speed and accuracy of service, but also reduce frustrations. When a customer gets the right help, there will also be no need for a second contact. This reduces the pressure on employees, who are therefore less likely to have to deal with angry or impatient customers. The feeling that they can help customers better and work more efficiently increases job satisfaction and improves the overall atmosphere in the workplace.
By automating repetitive work and providing employees with integrated systems, companies create an environment where employees experience less stress, get more satisfaction from their work and are ultimately more productive.
Conclusion: Win-win for customer and employee
While nowadays the focus is often on handling complaints as quickly as possible, endless training and rigorous onboarding, there is still a lot to be gained by optimizing your systems. By properly integrating your CRM and other tools, you can save a lot of time, for which both your customer and your employees will thank you.
After all, you can have the best staff in the world, but if the technology around it is cluttered and doesn’t provide the insights you need to handle complaints properly, you’re still going to have problems. Think of it a bit like Max Verstappen with a Ford Ka. Yes, he’s probably still the best driver, but he’s not going to win a Grand Prix with it.
So take a hard look at your systems, what can be improved? Am I missing important connections between tools that could broaden insights for my customer service? Optimizing your systems can make just that difference between performing well and winning the race.
