One of the best things a company can do for itself and its customers is to implement customer care solutions that stand well above other companies. When people spend their hard-earned money on things they are more likely to come back and spend more money if they are treated with respect and dignity. In many cases, it is the quality of customer support that becomes the deciding factor of who customers want to do business with.
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What is Customer Care?
If you are a business owner that has to ask this question you have a lot to learn. Customers are the pulse of any business because, without them, there would be no business at all. Sometimes businesses become so arrogant that they feel their product alone is so great that they can get away with treating customers badly, but this is a mistake. People are smart and they can find whatever it is that they need somewhere else.
Customer care is when the company goes the extra mile to make sure that the customer is taken care of and is satisfied with the transaction or the service that they experienced.
Customer care can be anything from when a person makes an order on the phone or when they come into a store asking questions about a particular item. Caring for the needs of the customer, wherever they are, is a form of customer care.
Some of the businesses that provide extended customer care are:
- Internet service providers
- Cellphone service providers
- Automotive establishments
- Medical establishments
- Restaurants
Some of the brick-and-mortar establishments have to deal with customers face to face and in person, while other industries give a customer care phone number for customers to call when they are having problems.
Life Without Customer Care
Can anybody imagine a life where there was no such thing as customer care? When we go to an auto dealership to buy a vehicle, there is nobody there to answer questions about the car we are looking at. When we subscribe to an internet and television network provider and our system stops working, we have nobody to call and get help with.
Customer care is what keeps businesses thriving. Companies that focus on the wellbeing of their customers more than they do the bottom line of accumulating more cash tend to be more successful. People can sense when they are being treated like a dollar bill, and not as living, breathing, human beings.
Imagine if you drove through the line of your favorite coffee place and instead of the barista handing you your drink they throw it at you. Would you go back? However, if the barista greeted you with a big smile and a bunch of positive energy you might just go back because of them.
Customer care is an essential part of every business. The companies that focus on how to make it better are the companies that have a better chance of gaining more customers that keep coming back.
Why Customers Get Angry
It is not a secret that some customers that call in or even visit in person with a problem are extremely angry and even aggressive. High-quality customer care will be able to see through the anger and into the solution without causing any more tension.
Yes, there are those customers that are just downright mean and nasty for no reason, but there are many others that are just frustrated because they can’t get the answers that they are looking for, or they misunderstand the details of a situation.
In any event, people that pay money for things get upset when they feel like they have been cheated out of their cash. It should not be an unrealistic expectation to get what you pay for.
Companies that sell things should make extra room for customers that complain about what they have bought. If the customer is heard and taken care of, they are less likely to go out and tell everybody that they know that a company ripped them off.
Critical Customer Support
There are many businesses that have to provide support that could mean the life or death of the customer. A good example of this is dialysis machines. Millions of people across the country depend on these machines to help them filter their blood because their kidneys no longer function properly. If the machine is faulty, it could cause sickness or even death.
In most healthcare settings the people calling customer support would be the healthcare professionals that are using the equipment on patients. If there is a problem with the machine a customer support agent will need to be available to assist with any issues that might occur.
Another type of critical customer support is when a company uses a product to conduct business, and the product fails. For example, if a company has a store that is hosted on a cloud-based server and the server fails or crashes, what does the customer do? In a circumstance such as this, the customer has to have somebody to contact in order to restore their business activity.
Other types of critical businesses that need customer support are:
- Medication
- Maternity assistance
- Alarms and security
- Emergency vehicles
None of these critical services may seem like they would have a need for customer care, but they are all customers in one way or another. All of the products that are required to make these services available are sold by companies.
Types of Customer Care
There are countless businesses out there that offer a multitude of various products and services. The type of customer care that each company has to offer will vary by the needs of the customers. However, providing care for the customer is the common denominator of all businesses that offer customer service.
Some customers may call in because they got the wrong sized dress in the mail. Some others may call in because there are some mysterious charges in their bank account that they want answers about.
The one thing about customer care is that when customers call in for help, they want assistance and a little compassion. It is a big world out there and most of the companies that offer customer assistance only allow for automated services where there is no human communication.
Real, live customer care is a service that many businesses are failing to supply for their customers. Live customer service can be provided via:
- Telephone
- Chat
- Conference software
- Messaging
Regardless of the medium that the support is provided on, most customers will appreciate a live person to correspond with when they need help with situations.
Automated Customer Care
Automated customer care is better than nothing at all, but is not an ideal platform for support. It is true that a lot of people would rather not talk to anybody, so the convenience of automated support is pretty substantial. However, automated systems rarely provide answers to more sophisticated questions that customers might have. If all they have to help is something that is no help at all, they will most likely look for whatever it is they are getting support for in another place.
Conclusion
The reason why great customer care solutions make such a huge difference is that customers need support. In order to maintain a great reputation as a company, it is necessary to have customers that think the company is great. If the customer care is terrible, it is good reason to believe the whole company is terrible as well.