Why Treating Every Customer As An Individual Is Crucial

Why should I trust any supplier? It’s a straightforward question. They are in business to make money, and every customer is a potential source of increasing revenue and maximizing ROI. So how do we measure the quality of companies we engage with and why?

Possibly the most critical measure is how we are made to feel when we need assistance or when looking to upgrade, reorder or simply seek information or advice. Yet, many attempted contacts with what is often euphemistically named customer service demonstrate that many companies even today still singularly fail to recognize how important their customers’ view of them is, or worse, they sometimes give the impression they don’t care every customer has a choice.

A 5% increase in customer retention correlates with at least a 25% increase in profit. Bain & Co

What makes us advocates for some brands, and critics of others, is I suggest, fundamental. The most potent ingredient is the quality of the product or service and how much we perceive they value our custom.

33% of American customers say they’ll consider switching companies immediately following a single instance of poor service. American Express

Are we treated as an individual? Do we find the company easy to engage with and quick and efficient in resolving issues? In other words, how good is their customer service?

Consider your favorite restaurant. Is it the fantastic food that puts it at the top of your list or that the maitre d’ recognizes you as soon as you walk in, and how he or she makes you always feel like their most valued diner? And what is your natural reaction? Telling your friends about how good it is? Taking guests there and maybe writing a great review and recommendation.

Even when it comes to everyday requirements like contacting our telephone service provider or utility company ordering services that we need like car repairs, it is always how we are treated that we remember, and that creates loyalty and trust and advocacy naturally we are more open with people or organizations we trust and more willing to engage and feedback

Since 73% of customers now use multiple channels3 to make their purchases, it’s in every business’s best interest to connect these touchpoints and utilize every customer interaction to its fullest potential.

In these days of one click and I am gone, and the massive influence of reviews, customer feedback is a double edge sword. Great feedback can impact and poor can bother hugely impact the bottom line.

81% of customers trust recommendations from family and friends over those from companies. Hubspot

Taking an omnichannel approach to customers, giving them the choice of channels to communicate their needs, gives the impression that their wishes are important and can create multiple opportunities to gather valuable information and ultimately personalize their interactions with the business. Freshdesk

Customers expect to be treated as individuals, as human beings who are facing one of the most challenging periods of their lives. They want to deal with companies who understand who they are and what they’re going through — and who appreciate that their reality and needs are changing every single day. Adopting a hyper-personalized marketing strategy powered by data, analytics, and AI will give you the insights and capabilities to adapt to your customers’ changing realities in real-time, which is what today’s customers expect. Deloitte

Since 73% of customers now use multiple channels to make their purchases Harvard Business Review

It’s in every business’s best interest to connect all the customer’s preferred channel touchpoints and utilize every customer interaction to its fullest potential both in gathering information and understanding and in creating and measuring goodwill.

Failing to do so may result in higher churn, weak customer relationships, and eventually an exponential hit in business revenue. Hence, it is imperative for brands to make a conscious choice to be present across different channels, be it their availability over phone calls, social media, messaging/ SMS, chatbots, or self-service. Freshdesk

The reality is our experience with customer service still too often sucks being asked multiple times in one connection to go through a security process, say when I connect with, say a bot on a website and am given a set of choices or questions to answer, to validate my account and successfully identify myself to a bot that’s fine. Often, however, when say I am next then channeled to an agent via voice call for example I am asked to repeat some or all of the process. Unsurprisingly I immediately become irritated and am completely turned off any attempt at upselling or seeking my feedback.

When your agents don’t have the right customer historical data, your customers have to repeat themselves, get frustrated, and eventually take their business elsewhere. On the other hand, agent productivity deteriorates, and their frustration also increases, making them less likely to provide a better experience to the customer. Gamma

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Originally published at Upstack.co on Feb 6, 2022, by Symon Blomfield.