Know your Checkbook: Quality Customer Service can Increase your Bottom Line

Providing excellent customer service doesn’t cost your business anything. However, if even one customer has even a somewhat bad experience, it could cost you everything. Customer service is crucial to business and ultimately sales. Think about how fast news spreads, especially in a small community, and even more so with the aid of social media. People share positive experiences, and they are like endorsements. But one bad experience can make its way through the rumor mill in record speed, ruining your reputation and your sales.

A recent survey of American Express showed that 70% of customers are willing to spend 13% more on average with companies they believe provide exceptional customer service. Making a conscious effort to impress your customers creates the kind of reputation that promotes word-of-mouth referrals and upsell opportunities – ultimately increasing sales.

Another study showed that a 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. In an environment where businesses are increasingly concerned with their bottom line, companies may focus a lot more on improving customer satisfaction.

The best part of increasing your customer satisfaction levels is that customers keep coming back. These retained customers cost less than new customers. Why? Because you aren’t spending marketing dollars trying to get them in your stores – services you’re already providing are convincing them to come back.

Just what is that returning customer worth? According to an online article on Lireo.com:

  • Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase your profits up to 125%
  • Loyal customers are worth 10 times as much as their first purchase on average
  • Companies that make customer service a priority make 60% higher profits than their competitors

How to Improve Your Customers’ Experiences and Retain Them

  • Ask your customers for feedback – When you show that you care and that you’re willing to listen to your customers, they will appreciate it and want to give you their business. Really listen and try to implement their suggestions and feedback, and then show what changes you have made based on their suggestions.
  • Offer a good mix of products – Make sure you have the products that your customers use the most on-hand including seasonal items relevant to the animals’ nutritional development.
  • Keep your store easy to navigate – Keep your aisles clear, and set up a good flow. Keep like or complimentary products together so your customers don’t have to go from corner to corner to get the two products they came for.
  • Train your employees on how to handle complaints respectfully – Negative interactions spread to twice as many people as positive interactions. If an employee handles a complaint well, the chance of the dissatisfied customer spreading his or her discontentment decreases.

Customer service is something we strive to perfect each day but now that you know it can help your profits, be sure to give a little extra attention to the customers. Your customers will surely notice, and you can watch your business grow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *