Why the customer is always king
Alexander Wijninga
| 2 min
Why the customer is always king
Do the adages 'the customer is king' or 'the customer is always right' sound like nails on a chalkboard to you? On the one hand, they motivate you to offer your customer the best of the best, but on the other side you still need to listen politely even if the customer is actually wrong.
The fact is customers can actually be wrong quite often. But there are still a number of important reasons why you should always keep listening. (Yes, even if you don't really feel like it!)
The customer is a mirror to your and your business
Complaining customers can often take an emotional approach. Comments like 'I've been waiting over a month for a reply' or 'you guys never want to help me out' are to be expected. Despite the fact that you know comments like these are likely exaggerations, it's still important to listen well to what's being said. The customer is taking the time to tell you his story and how he feels, and this might be confusing, despite the customer also knowing what the root of the problem is - an irritated feeling created by you or your company (for some reason). Of course that's an issue that you want to try to resolve. Try to find out what the reason or root of the problem is as soon as you can, so you can try to fix it.
Positive customer reviews are worth their weight in gold
Customer reviews are generally regarded by the public as trustworthy. Why would someone lie about the level of service they'd received? If you read somewhere that the service is "incredibly unfriendly to customers", you're going to look for another company with similar products, right? Bad reviews can cost you many (potential) customers.
89% of customers who've had a poor experience will switch to a competitor
If a customer is continuously dissatisfied because you're not listening, then there's a big chance that he'll switch to the competitor - and of course you want avoid that. How? A global study of 18,000 consumers gives a simple answer: 81% think its important that you simply answer their questions and 36% want to be helped quickly. Next to that, having insights into customers' previous experiences can also help. One-third of the respondents indicated that they valued the organisation being aware of previous moments of contact.
Satisfied customers spend 67% more than unsatisfied customers
The numbers don't lie: satisfied customers spend 67% more than unsatisfied customers. It's a good idea to create a plan that's going to bring your customers back time and time again. One option is to go beyond just offering general discounts. Try offering new, exclusive information that's not available to one-time customers. Another idea is to use personalized marketing. If you're already collecting personal data, then it's a waste to not use it. Instead of sending generic mails, you can offer more focused discounts based on previously purchased products.
A satisfied customer will recommend your business to five other people
Word-of-mouth marketing: crucial for your and your company. Definitely true if you know that a satisfied customer will share his positive experience with five other people. In fact, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing. Since men could speak and converse, people have been talking about the best market, the most beautiful fabrics or the most delicious fruit. If your company is the subject of such a conversation, that contributes to your brand awareness and could bring you new customers.
Related articles
Best practices
GPT-3: The Latest Advancement in AI Customer Service - Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities
GPT-3, the latest version of OpenAI's 'Generative Pretrained Transformer' model, is a significant development in the world of artificial intelligence and chatbots. It has the ability to engage in human-like conversations and perform...
Best practices
How to automate customer contact
As a business or organisation, you almost can’t avoid it anymore: automating customer contact. Despite this being new to most only a few years ago, it’s now almost a must for organisations that have multiple customer service employees ...