Customers Want You To Make It Easy For Them—Are You?
A Harvard Business Review study revealed that what consumers want most when it comes to customer service is to have their requests fulfilled or problems solved quickly and easily. It’s that simple, consumers want it to be easy to do business with you.
The study also showed that on average 2.4 e-mails were needed to resolve a customer’s issue, compared with 1.7 phone calls, which is why consumers today continue to prefer making a phone call to make resolving an issue easy.
So, what does “make it easy” mean exactly? It all boils down to removing obstacles. Well over half of the consumers interviewed for the Harvard Business Review study reported being frustrated by obstacles such as:
- Phone calls not being answered
- Being put on hold
- Calls not returned on the same day
- Having to call repeatedly
- Having to repeat information to more than one person
- Not having the problem solved
The consumers in the study reported that they were willing to switch brands if they encountered obstacles like these when doing business with a company. They were more likely to remain loyal to the businesses that helped them solve their problems quickly and easily.
“Make it easy” is a solid foundation for any company’s customer service strategy. To evaluate how easy it is for customers to use your product or service, jot down a list of all the ways customers interact with your service.
For each interaction point, ask “how easy is it for customers to—”:
- Call my business?
- Talk to a real person right away?
- Feel confident they’re talking to the right person?
- Have their questions answered?
- Resolve their complaints?
- Learn about other options that might help them?
- Purchase another product or service?
Reducing customer effort by removing obstacles is key to staying competitive in today’s consumer-driven marketplace. Take an honest look at how easy—or how difficult—it is for customers to do business with you. When you remove obstacles you’ll very likely see a rise in customer loyalty, not to mention revenue.
If you’d like to learn more about how a live answering service can help make it quick and easy for customers to do business with you, contact Voice Link of Columbus, Inc. Your customers will be greeted by a friendly, live agent each time they call, any time they call. Our call representatives act as an extension of your business, answering questions and resolving issues any time you need.
With state-of-the-art facilities in Columbus and LaGrange, Georgia, Voice Link of Columbus, Inc. has an 82% referral rate among local businesses and provides live answering services that exceed your expectations, 24/7, 365 days of the year. We offer month-to-month service agreements with no hidden fees to meet the needs of any business regardless of size.
Request information online or call us at (800) 262-2799 for a free consultation.