Business owners know that two things are truly inevitable: taxes, and the occasional unhappy customer. Even if your product is great and your customer service is spotless, it’s simply impossible to please everyone all of the time.
While we can’t necessarily control outcomes, we can control the process used to resolve customer complaints — and speed is a major component of any successful process.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at how having a quicker response time with a prompt call answering service can win over unhappy customers.
The Value of a Speedy Response
A bad experience makes retaining the loyalty of customers more difficult, yet it’s a company’s response to that experience that often determines the outcome. If customers feel like their grievances aren’t being treated respectfully — or if they feel they aren’t being paid enough attention — retaining their business becomes highly unlikely.
On the other hand, a fast response tells customers their concerns are being taken seriously. The simple act of acknowledging their problem will often tamp down heightened emotions. That’s why it’s critically important to reach out as quickly as possible. Even if a detailed response will take longer to formulate, a simple acknowledgement of the issue is often enough to buy time, and ease any unhappiness.
Additionally, fast and responsive customer service is often a significant competitive advantage. According to an article published in Time Magazine, consumers may spend up to 13 hours waiting on hold each year. That’s an astonishing figure — and evidence that far too few companies are expediting things quickly enough.
By doubling down on efforts to engage customers quickly, businesses can carve out a competitive edge — and earn even greater consumer loyalty.
How The Demands For Speedy Engagement Have Changed
While fast response times have always been good for business, today there’s far greater urgency involved. A decade ago, businesses could sometimes get away with not addressing customer complaints in a rapid fashion. These days, with the advent of social media, such delays can have a powerfully negative effect. With the click of a mouse, one disgruntled person can transmit bad feelings about a company to hundreds or thousands of people. Each one of those people has the potential to relay that information to another vast audience.
Additionally, as many companies have discovered to their detriment, negative reviews posted online can linger, influencing potential customers for months or even years to follow. This makes fast response times more critical than ever.
By reaching out to unhappy customers quickly, companies can minimize the odds of negative reviews and fast-spreading social media complaints. Yet it’s important to remember that “social media fast” is a bit different from conventional fast. Social media users expect their response to be delivered in hours — if not minutes — rather than a day or two later.
The Takeaway
Unhappy customers are a fact of life for even well-run enterprises. Yet by recognizing the importance of a quick response with the use of a call answering service, companies can minimize the odds of a negative interaction — and ultimately maintain the loyalty of their clients.
Source: http://business.time.com/2013/01/24/you-probably-spent-13-hours-on-hold-last-year/
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