Businesses are very dependent on their customers. Without their support, the sales of your products and services will be stagnant, leading to business failure.
That is why employees are trained to build, maintain, and strengthen a company’s relationship with its clients. Among the ways to create a connection with consumers is customer care.
Read on to know more about customer care, how it differentiates from customer experience and customer service, and how to do it the right way.
What is customer service?
Customer service is the assistance given by a brand representative to a client before, during, and after a sale. It ranges from helping a customer choose the right product or service that fits their needs to answering their questions post-purchase.
The goal of customer service is to increase the client’s happiness with the brand, as well as their satisfaction with the service.
Further, efficient customer service aims to increase the company’s revenues from returning customers. After all, if they are happy with the sales agent’s services, then they are bound to go back to the brand for repeat purchases.
What is customer experience?
Customer experience measures not just one interaction with the client. Rather, it refers to the totality of the customer’s journey within the business.
It combines all points of contact between the company and a shopper and how it affects their perception of the brand.
Customer experience starts with a prospect discovering the company and researching the products and services until they reach the purchasing process and then the post-sales follow-up.
An excellent customer experience is important for the growth of the business. Having a positive interaction between customers and sales reps can strengthen brand loyalty and advocacy of future shoppers.
How about customer care?
Beyond customer experience and customer service, customer care refers to a more intimate and personalized approach to addressing a client’s needs and wants.
It is an important part of a company’s support services as it generates an emotional connection between the brand and its target market.
It encompasses how well the customers are taken care of while interacting with the business and its customer support team.
The goal of customer care is to make each client feel valued and to encourage them to continue their connection with the company and influence more consumers.
Customer service vs customer experience vs customer care
Though customer experience, customer service, and customer care contribute to the impression that a company leaves on its clients, they are still different from each other.
Here are some of the differences between customer service, customer experience, and customer care:
- Approach: Customer service is “reactive” and is only utilized when a customer is not satisfied with their purchase. Meanwhile, customer experience and customer care are “proactive” in satisfying clients and turning them into loyal customers.
- Length of service: While customer service only covers one interaction, customer experience measures the holistic journey of the customers. Similarly, customer care prioritizes a long-term approach to building a connection to earn the trust and loyalty of the market.
- Priorities: Customer service focuses on fielding inquiries and questions post-sales while customer care works on understanding the emotions of a client.
- Enforcers: While customer service and customer care are taken care of by only one team, every employee in the company contributes to delivering a great customer experience.
Having all of these differences does not mean that the company has to choose one to enforce and focus on. Integrating all of them into the company’s support services can result in more satisfied customers who will stay loyal to the brand and come back for more purchases.
Measuring customer care
Unlike customer experience and customer service, customer care cannot be measured simply by a net promoter score (NPS) or customer satisfaction score (CSAT) — although these metrics may also reflect the perceived quality of care your customers receive.
Nonetheless, customer care is less quantifiable than customer experience and customer service as it is more concerned with fostering a good one-to-one interaction with clients.
However, sales representatives can hand out feedback sheets to clients to know their opinion on the brand’s customer care services and how they can be improved in the future.
An organization is considered to have excellent customer care if it can meet its goals and needs by the end of a given period.
Doing customer care the right way
It can be hard to offer excellent customer care since all clients have different wants, needs, opinions, and behaviors. However, there are still some steps that you can take to cater to all types of buyers.
Here are some tips to strengthen your customer care strategy:
Offer convenience
Customers love easy-to-follow and convenient processes. Most of them hate throwing extra effort just to get what they want from the company.
Others are too busy to spend extra time to avail excellent service. Going all out and helping shoppers get what they want with the least amount of effort possible would keep them satisfied and happy.
Personalize interactions
Having a personalized response to every customer keeps them more engaged with the brand. That is because they feel that they are being valued more than the money that they bring to the company.
Keep interactions with every customer unique! If possible, take the time to understand what their likes and dislikes are. That way, you can communicate with them through their passions.
Be accountable
No company is perfect. There are days when a mistake is inevitable, especially in customer support. That is why you need to take accountability for your actions.
It is important for companies to own up to their mistakes and apologize promptly to the affected customers.
Remember, instead of frowning on customer complaints, turn this into an opportunity to strengthen your service. Learn from any errors and listen to criticisms left by all clients.
Stay kind
Aside from prompt service, positive customer interactions are rooted in the kindness and genuineness of your support agents. Always remember to smile at every customer entering your business, address them respectfully, and answer their questions calmly.
Staying kind even in the most ungraceful situations helps you make a mark on the minds of every buyer present during the incident.
Listen to feedback
Feedback is the key to a successful venture. Aside from knowing the customers’ opinion on the business, listening to feedback helps companies determine their pain points and improve them.
Additionally, actively paying attention to a customer while they are discussing their opinions would help them feel more valued and listened to by the company.
