The online market today is extremely competitive. Therefore, offering top notch customer service has become crucial. It not only makes you stand out even further from the competition, which might be slow, poor or unresponsive, but also builds positive brand perception.

It is no longer enough to just answer questions and solving problems, but it's also about building and maintaining a relationship between your brand and your valued customers.

In this article, we will discuss some of the benefits you grab by investing in your customer service. Here we focus on four essential aspects:

• Brand trust and loyalty
• Gaining valuable customer insights for business innovation
• Increasing your sales
• Cost savings

1. How customer service builds brand trust and loyalty

Your customer service is undoubtedly one of the basic elements of brand trust. Customers need to know not only that they can expect quality products or services from your brand, but also that they can count on an excellent and positive experience. When customers have the belief that your brand is always ready with a prompt and helpful response, it creates a sense of trust that goes beyond the purchase of a product.

Brand trust = customer loyalty

This trust translates into loyalty, which means customers choose your brand again and again. Moreover, it also creates positive word-of-mouth advertising, with customers
sharing their good experiences with others (more on this later). This is golden because it can lead to new customers and thus a steady growth of your customer base as well as sales!

Consistency is key

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Consistency is an essential element in building your brand trust. Customers want to be confident that they will always experience the same high-quality service, regardless of the channel they use to contact you. Whether they call, email, send a chat message or reach out to you on social media, your customer service should be top-notch wherever you are available.

By being consistent, you build a solid foundation for your brand. Hikari CS is an example of a company that helps entrepreneurs do just that. By completely immersing themselves in your brand, tone of voice, target audience, current customers, etc, Hikari CS ensures that consistent service is always provided to your customer from your brand guidelines. This keeps customers coming back, knowing they can expect the same quality of service. In addition, it helps your brand stand out from the competition and establishes a clear brand identity.

2. Customer data & innovative ideas by and for your customer service department

We know by now that excellent customer service goes beyond handling questions and complaints. What you may not have thought about so quickly is leveraging data obtained from your customer service. This data can be very valuable and lead to new insights and ideas. If you want your business to grow and innovate, you will need to use it. By analyzing and deploying it you will learn a lot and can invest in customer focus to strengthen your competitive position and position yourself as a pioneer in your industry.

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The Importance of Listening to Your Customers

Customer service serves as a true incubator for innovative concepts and new market opportunities. One of the most valuable qualities of customer service is actively listening to your customers. It goes beyond providing answers; it also means digging deep into your customers' needs, expectations and concerns.

Feedback and suggestions can be used to improve your products or services. This can range from fine-tuning existing products to completely overhauling your offerings to meet exactly what your customers want and set you apart from your competition. And as a bonus, customers feel heard, which in turn translates to a positive experience and increased loyalty!

Customer service as a data source

The information you collect with your customer service is your own data or also called "first party data." At a time when privacy laws are getting tighter and tighter, we are leaning more on first party data. This data can be super valuable for improving your marketing efforts. The customers who are helped and leave an email address, populate your first-party data source, which you can then use for campaigns and personalizing the customer journey.

If you want to learn more about the importance of first party data and customer engagement, be sure to read this blog.

3. Cashing in with Customer Service: your revenue boost

Now let's talk about revenue growth. It comes from smart investments in your business, and let customer service be a very powerful and valuable investment. A great customer experience actually makes customers buy more, spend more and come back more often because the customer knows the company is always there for them. Vice versa, poor service actually costs sales and damages reputation.

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Loyalty and Repeat Purchases

Customers who are satisfied with the quality of your customer service are more likely to return for more. Imagine customers feeling that they are heard and understood and that their needs matter. Then you not only build trust, but they will choose you again and again. This strengthens your customer base AND ensures a predictable stream of revenue, plus it provides a solid foundation for further growth.

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Positive Word-of-Mouth Advertising

When you provide your customers with exceptional service, they will be more likely to share this positive experience with friends, family and whoever else wants to hear about it. This word-of-mouth advertising can be truly invaluable to you!

Not only does it attract new customers, but it is also one of the most credible forms of marketing. When a good friend tells you about a great service they experienced, it has significantly more impact on you than a random ad. By doing so, you organically build a reputation of trust and quality, which will make customers more likely to choose your company.

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And here's the crazy thing: companies throw big bucks at bringing in new customers through expensive marketing campaigns. But honestly, those investments don't quite match the cost of keeping your current customers happy. Retaining customers shouldn't break the bank either, but it's certainly just as important as bringing in new customers.

Sales opportunities

Dedicated online service opens the door to opportunities for additional sales. By answering customer questions quickly and efficiently and solving problems, employees can strengthen customer relationships. They can proactively suggest relevant products or upgrades that meet the customer's needs, not only increasing customer satisfaction but also increasing the company's sales and profitability.

4. Cost-saving through great service

Amid fierce competition and high customer expectations, it is high time to recognize that investing in customer service is not just a cost, but rather a smart move to reduce your expenses and increase your profitability.

Bye bye returns and complaints

A direct path to cutting back on costs? Reduce returns and complaints. Satisfied customers are less likely to return purchases and leave fewer negative reviews.

In fact, research shows that loyal customers, who are usually happy customers, return products up to 50% less than new customers!

In addition, it saves not only on return processing costs, but also inventory costs. Fewer returns means less unsold inventory and less waste.

On top of that, prompt and effective customer service addresses problems before they escalate, preventing higher costs in the future. By proactively resolving problems, you can prevent them from accumulating and growing into costly disputes. If you want more practical tips on improving your customer service, check out this blog with as many as 10 helpful tips!

Customer retention and increased loyalty

As you know by now, effective customer service contributes to customer retention and increased loyalty. Customers who feel valued and have positive interactions are more likely to return. Generating new customers is typically more expensive than retaining existing customers, so customer retention can provide significant cost savings.

In addition, loyal customers are often willing to spend more and are less price sensitive. This means you need to spend less on marketing and discounts to attract new customers, which can reduce operating costs. Invest in the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers and benefit from a steady stream of revenue without the high cost of constant customer acquisition.

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Reputation

Great customer service builds your reputation and trust, reducing your investment in brand building. We all know that brand promotion and customer acquisition costs eat up most of the marketing budget. A strong reputation brings lasting relationships and cost savings. In the event of reputation damage, excellent customer service is a lifesaver because it prevents further damage and promotes recovery. By proactively addressing problems and providing solutions, you win back your customers' trust and prevent financial losses.

In conclusion

We cannot stress enough the importance of excellent customer service. Not only is it key to building brand trust, but it also provides valuable insights, increases sales and saves on costs. By investing in customer service, you are investing in the future of your business. In short, it pays to strive for excellent customer service. And let Hikari CS help you do just that! Hikari CS will relieve your team and take your customer service to the next level so that you can enjoy all the benefits mentioned above! Check out our services and feel free to contact us!

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