If you’re serious about building a thriving e-commerce business, you’ll have to dedicate time and attention to customer service.
After all, customer service teams interact with customers over helpdesk tools or email every day. They’re on the front lines, representing your brand, fixing problems, and building positive relationships.
When customer service is prioritized, companies enjoy a ton of benefits: more loyal customers, more positive reviews, and more revenue. That’s why focusing on customer service is so important.
Providing customer support can take up a lot of time and energy, which is why traditional customer service is often seen as a cost center. Company leaders know they need to provide service, but they see this as a “cost of doing business” rather than an opportunity to delight customers, make connections, and ultimately increase revenue.
Customer service is not just a cost of doing a business. It’s an important part of the overall customer experience. In fact, it can make or break your online store.
Need more proof? Today, we’re sharing 10 reasons why customer service is so important.
1. Great Customer Service Is Good for the Bottom-Line
Businesses that work on improving customer service report an increase in revenue. And even a small improvement in customer retention can lead to significant profit gains. For instance, increasing customer retention by just 5% can result in a profit increase of 25%.
Also, the impact of great customer service extends beyond retention. Customers who have positive experiences with a company are more likely to increase their spending with that brand. In fact, half of the customers who enjoy a positive interaction end up making more purchases from that business. And this increased customer value directly contributes to a healthier bottom line.
Furthermore, customers recognize the value of excellent service and are willing to pay a premium for it. A significant majority of consumers—86% to be precise—state they would pay more for a better customer service experience.
2. Positive Experiences Encourage Customers to Share With Others
Although there are online reviews readily at our disposal, consumers still continue to trust recommendations from friends and family members above all else.
And, if you offer good customer service, you’ll be encouraging your customers to spread the word to the people that they know.
After all, a good customer service interaction does a lot more than solve a simple issue. It actually has the power to influence a customer’s readiness to recommend your company to others.
Yep, after a positive experience, 69% are likely to recommend the company to others that they know.
3. Reviews Increasingly Matter to Prospective Customers
Today’s consumers want to have confidence when they make a purchase, so they usually read online reviews. These positive reviews increasingly matter to prospective customers. In fact, 91% of people read online reviews, and 84% trust reviews as much as recommendations from someone they know.
But if you want your brand to have good reviews, you absolutely have to focus on creating a stellar customer service experience. Positive experiences with your support team will find their way into your reviews.
More concerning is what happens when your customer service team falls short. If someone has a negative experience, they’re highly likely to write about that experience in the form of an online review– and prospective customers are likely to see it.
4. Great Customer Service Reduces Customer Churn, Keeping Customers Around
Reducing customer churn should be a primary goal for your e-commerce company. That is, you want to make sure that your customers do more than buy from you once—you want them to buy from you over and over again.
There are a number of ways you can reduce customer churn, but one of the best is to focus on providing excellent customer service. It turns out that 75% of people would return to a company because of excellent customer service.
If you have poor customer service, it’s likely to have a negative impact on churn. After a bad customer service experience, 89% of consumers reported doing business with a competitor.
5. Company Culture and Employee Happiness Are Correlated With Good Customer Service
Believe it or not, employee happiness has a pretty direct link with customer happiness. According to research from Gallup, highly engaged employees achieve a 10% increase in customer ratings.
It’s a bit of a chicken and egg question: what comes first– happy employees or happy customers? But the answer is that they both come together.
When you’re focused on making everyone in your business as happy as possible, that’s going to have a ripple effect for the overall culture of your company.
Doubling down on the customer service experience can be good for both team members and customers. When team members can make a positive impact on the customers they serve, everyone is happy.
6. Great Customer Service Positively Impacts Overall Business Reputation
Some companies are just known for having great customer service. For example, Zappos has long been famous for providing stellar customer support, which has allowed them to compete with companies like Amazon.
When you offer great customer service, it’s going to have a positive impact on your overall reputation. Current customers will share their experiences with friends and family, and customers will write online reviews about how well they were served.
A great reputation is about more than looking good. A solid reputation leads to more customers. In fact, 55% of consumers become customers because of a brand’s reputation for great customer service.
7. Great Customer Service Is a Competitive Advantage
The e-commerce space has never been riper with opportunity, but it’s also never been more competitive. When consumers have a sea of options, how are you going to stand out?
Of course, you need to have a solid and reputable product. But the customer service you offer can help you stand out from the competition. Way back in 1995, researchers began to see companies embracing customer service as a competitive strategy. If companies could treat customers better than the competition, then they’d enjoy the benefits.
In these cases, customer service goes beyond simply having your agents be nice when they answer the phone. It means crafting policies that make the customer feel taken care of throughout the buying process.
8. Customer Service Can Be Another Marketing Channel
When ecommerce teams provide exceptional customer service, they’re doing more than solving a simple issue. They’re also delighting their customers, making them truly happy and impressed.
When customers are impressed by what you do, they share those experiences on social media. One of the most common examples we see is from Chewy.com, an online retailer of pet supplies. Chewy regularly sends gifts and heartfelt cards to customers when the team learns that a beloved furry friend has passed away.
Chewy’s goal is altruistic: they want to support their customers at their lowest. But the side effect is that these customers share their experience with Chewy with the rest of the world. Taking good care of customers becomes a marketing channel for Chewy.
9. Today’s Customers Have High Expectations
The rise of the internet has redefined the bounds of customer service. More than ever before, customers can get support through a multitude of channels and at any time of day. Expectations have never been higher.
These days, 72% of consumers say they expect businesses to understand their needs and treat them as unique individuals. Additionally, 66% of customers said they would switch to a competitor if they felt they were being “treated like a number, not an individual.”
Indeed, these are high expectations to meet. But if the customer service you’re offering is middling, at best, then you’re going to have trouble getting customers to fall in love with your brand and its offerings.
10. Your Customers Are Essential to Your Business’s Longterm Health
Exceptional customer service is a strategic investment in the long-term health and profitability of your business. When you offer customer satisfaction, you cultivate loyal customers who become repeat buyers, driving consistent revenue growth and increasing customer lifetime value.
In essence, a commitment to superior customer service creates a virtuous cycle of growth, fuelled by satisfied customers who champion your brand.
Furthermore, when competing with other businesses, exceptional customer service is a powerful differentiator. It builds trust with customers, setting your brand apart and attracting new business.
By investing in your customers’ experience, you build a resilient foundation for long-term success, ensuring your business not only survives but thrives in the years to come.
How to Provide Quality Customer Service
Now that you understand the importance of customer service, let’s explore how to elevate your support strategy:
1. Understand your customer. You need to first, know your target audience is the foundation of excellent service. Dive deep into their needs, preferences, and pain points to tailor your support accordingly.
2. Empower your team. Equip your support agents with the right tools and training to handle customer inquiries effectively. A knowledgeable and empowered team is crucial for delivering efficient and empathetic support.
3. Choose the right channels. provide your customers support across multiple channels, including email, live chat, social media, and phone. This ensures seamless and accessible communication.
4. Personalize the experience. Personalization goes beyond simply using their name – it’s about understanding their unique context and tailoring your responses accordingly.
Offer Exceptional Customer Service With Groove Today!
Exceptional customer service fuels loyalty, generates positive reviews, and ultimately, drives revenue growth. But delivering outstanding support requires the right tools. And that’s where our helpdesk software, Groove, comes in.
Groove streamlines your customer service operations and empowers your support team to deliver exceptional experiences. We have features like shared inboxes, automated workflows, and robust reporting. Thus, Groove helps you efficiently manage customer inquiries, resolve issues faster, and build stronger customer relationships.
Groove offers the following benefits:
- Groove’s shared inbox ensures your customer service team sees and addresses customer messages promptly.
- Internal notes and assignments keep your support team on the same page.
- Reporting tools provide data-driven insights to identify areas for improvement and optimize your support strategies.
Ready to experience the difference? Get your free trial today and discover how Groove can help you elevate your customer service.
