Great Customer Service for Customer Retention
Great companies provide great customer service. Customer Service Excellence leads to Customer Loyalty and Customer Retention.
According to B2B International, customer loyalty research has shown that most companies lose 45% to 50% of their customers every five years, and winning new customers can be up to 20 times more expensive than retaining existing customers. Moreover, just a 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 25% to 85%, depending on the industry. The numbers may vary depending on where you are. Other factors such as cultural factors, average disposable income and the level of e-commerce adoption may alter customer acquisition costs.
The importance of Customer Service to an organization cannot be underestimated. Keeping customers make good business sense and many studies have revealed that the cost of keeping a new customer is between 10 to 20% of the cost of acquiring a new customer. It makes good sense to have a customer retention strategy that includes strong customer service and proactive customer engagement. With rising customer acquisition costs, businesses everywhere need to innovate and start to assume a more proactive role in retaining clients.
Great Customer Service also leads to a long-lasting relationship with the customers who are in turn also more likely to recommend the company and its products and services to others. Customer Loyalty will not only protect existing business but will also contribute to new business through referrals.
With massive product information being made available online, the “brick-and-mortar” retail outlets now need to close that sales at the retail outlet instead of waiting or allowing the consumer to go home and order the same product online at perhaps a discounter price. The importance of closing sales at the retail outlet has now become ever more crucial.
Telesales and the right languaging and tonality of the telesales personnel over the phone is now extremely critical for customer retention.
Good Customer Service also leads to a long-lasting relationship with the customers who are in turn also more likely to recommend the company and its products and services to others. Customer loyalty will not only protect existing business but will also contribute to new business through referrals.
Retail Customer Service Trends in Singapore
According to a recent report commissioned by the UOB Bank in Singapore, there are 5 retail trends to expect from Singapore are:
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More diverse payment options
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More retailers will opt for cloud-based solutions
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More stores going omnichannel
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Split between experiential and non-experiential goods
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Technology could finally improve in-store experiences
Despite to the “doom-and-gloom” for “brick-and-mortar” retail outlets prophesized by naysayers and the immense prospects of e-commerce and online sales, consumers still prefer physical shops to online purchases. Online purchases will continue to grow and the inflection point will come when the live-in-person purchasing experience can be closely simulated by the online purchase or ecommerce experience.
As the Internet becomes more pervasive to drive ecommerce and online purchases, we should focus on building strong and lasting customer relationships instead of trying to figure out the best channel to market. Vendors and suppliers must have a multichannel approach to their customers and focus on building customer loyalty.
Customer loyalty and hence customer retention can be achieved in many ways.
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Connect with the customer on a personal basis
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Do the unexpected to delight the customer
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Anticipate customer needs
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Invest in the customer
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Provide multiple payment options
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Shop around to better understand competition
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Challenge your front-line employees to deliver great customer experience
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Do the little things that matter