Successful companies don’t just go for sales and revenue. They find a way to bring the best service to their customers and get them delighted with the business.
They also give emphasis on customer care. As much as possible, they empathize with and give them the most personalized experience. This makes it a crucial element for their success.
Focusing more on quality, customer care is determined by different metrics and indicators, which you will learn in this article.
What is customer care?
Customer care refers to the way people are treated when interacting with a brand. This traces their entire journey before, during, and after a purchase.
Customer care is a good way to build an emotional connection with the community. Its purpose is to deliver professional and high-quality assistance with empathy and care for each client’s needs.
Customer care vs customer service
Most businesses would confuse customer service and customer care and use them interchangeably. While both aspects aim to increase client satisfaction, they work differently toward achieving it.
Customer service deals more with providing assistance for each customer. This involves answering inquiries about the product and troubleshooting its basic issues. It is more quantifiable since it sticks to metrics such as speed of answer and resolution time.
Whereas in customer care, the company finds a way to understand its client’s emotional needs as much as the business. Customer care agents apply active listening, empathy, and other skills that can help them establish a bond with customers.
Compared to customer service, this focuses more on one-on-one interactions and connections.
Why customer care is crucial for businesses
Good customer care shows that you can fill your audience’s needs beyond their expectations. More so, establishing customer care in your business gives you the following advantages.
Enhance brand reputation
Your company is not just there to create and increase sales. You have to build rapport with your clients and get them satisfied with your services. Through customer care, you can offer the best service possible rather than simply providing the products and services for them.
It builds your reputation as a good service provider that takes exceptional care of its customers.
Reduce churns
At the same time, you get to reduce your churns by applying exceptional services and outputs.
A 2022 Zendesk report states that 54% of buyers still think customer service is an afterthought for most companies.
By practicing customer care, your patrons will think otherwise. It gives them the perception that you have a strong customer service process.
Increase conversion and retention rate
Aside from reduced churns, you will notice greater retention and conversion rates.
Customer care helps in retaining your customers longer and converting leads that come from referrals and recommendations.
Important metrics in customer care
The measurement for customer care is not the same as the metrics for customer service, loyalty, or success. As it is less quantifiable, you usually have to look at the quality of your interactions with each customer.
On the other hand, the level of care you give to your patrons reflects on the rating they give and their feedback about their overall experience. Your metrics should involve the following questions.
- Why do customers prefer your products and services?
- What makes your customers stay?
- Will they leave you for your competitors?
That said, you can still measure customer care through the following metrics.
Customer effort score (CES)
Customer effort score (CES) determines how much effort a customer gave when interacting with your business. It relates to their overall experience and shows the initial points on the things they find easy or difficult in every aspect of your business.
Each CES item is rated either from one to five, from “very difficult” to “very easy,” or whether they “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree.”
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) rating
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) ratings indicate how satisfied your customers are with your business.
Surveys are usually given right after a sales or customer service transaction, and CSAT is measured through questions or items rated from 1 to 10.
It is calculated by dividing the number of positive responses by the total responses, which is then multiplied by 100 to get the percentage.
Net promoter score (NPS)
Lastly, the net promoter score (NPS) measures your customer’s eagerness to promote your products or services.
Satisfied customers are more likely to refer your business to their friends, family, and other people. NPS gauges this satisfaction as well as their loyalty to your organization. This usually comes with CSAT, asking customers how they would rate your products.
Depending on their given ratings, your customers can either be “promoters,” passives,” or “detractors.”
Improving customer care in your company
Your team needs to have adequate tools, resources, and skills to make them more effective at work. Here are some of the steps you can do to improve customer care in your business.
Review your data on what should be improved
Your NPS, CES, and CSAT surveys serve as primary sources for knowing your customers’ pain points. These will point you to the aspects you need to improve to enhance customer experience.
Provide constant training to your team
It’s best to equip your team with the right skill sets needed to increase their engagement and sense of independence. You can provide constant customer care training programs to give them a look at how they should interact with and approach customers.
Use adequate CRM and support tools
The tools you use could be a reason you experience difficulty in improving customer care. A 2019 study reveals that automation helps in improving customer empathy, which could lead to improving your customer care in return.
Practice customer empathy
The best way to improve customer care is by practicing customer empathy in your team.
Encourage agents to use words and phrases, such as “I understand” and “Thank you for your feedback,” and show their sincerity during interactions.
