If the company’s customer service is excellent, 78% of consumers will do business with a company again after a mistake, says a research by Salesforce Research. Despite this, over 30% of small businesses see no need for CRMs, and 13% of respondents said that they didn’t think a CRM system will add value to their business, according to GetApp Research. This is because there is a lack of awareness of the benefits investing in customer service software brings.
In this blog, we shall share insights on why investing in customer support tools should be a top priority for startups and SMB growth. But first, let’s start with the definition.
What is customer service software?
Customer service software is an umbrella term for all those software that enable a business to offer better customer service. Some examples of customer service software are:
● Help desk software,
● Customer relationship management (CRM) software
● Contact management software,
● Ticketing software, and more
Why is the quality of customer experience so important?
The importance of the quality of customer experience is undeniable, considering the inclination of leading companies towards people-centricity. Amazon is perhaps the most famous example. The ecommerce giant has always positioned itself to be the most people-centric company. Offering excellent customer service has been one of the biggest reasons for Amazon’s success today.
Here are some numbers to prove the importance of great customer experience.
- 66% of businesses that prioritize customer experience see increased retention and 60% see an increase in customer lifetime value. (Forrester)
- 30% of customers are willing to pay more for excellent service, a 6% increase over 2019. (CGS)
- 32% of customers “break up” with a favorite brand after one poor customer experience. (Review42)
Why do small businesses need to invest in customer service software?
Investing in a good customer service system can yield amazing results in terms of business growth and brand image. Here are the main benefits in detail:
● Better Lead Generation
Customer service software helps you welcome and nurture prospects in the warmest of ways. For instance, ticketing software ensures all your visitors with queries are responded to quickly and effectively. Such software through sharing information and building trust increases the volume and speed at which prospects turn into leads and customers.
● Omnichannel Customer Experience
Best-in-class customer service software comes with a Unified Dashboard where agents can see all the interactions done across channels in one place. Such a unified interface helps agents with end-to-end visibility, and they are never less-informed.
Moreover, prospects or customers won’t have to repeat themselves. And, they will have multiple avenues to successfully reach you like email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.
● Mitigating Organizational Silos
Customer service tools like CRM, helpdesk, and ticketing software improve alignment between marketing and sales departments. They increase the quality and frequency of information shared with enhanced data collection and sharing.
For instance, CRM ticketing software can help you gain crucial information like pain points, questions, likes and dislikes of prospects and leads. This data can be leveraged into creating marketing campaigns as well as in product development.
● Data-Driven Insights
Customer service software tracks, measures, and analyses major KPIs like conversion rates, campaign analysis, customer support statistics, customer churn rates, customer retention rates, inactive customers, and more. These insights super-power your operations by allowing you to make informed data-driven decisions.
● Remote Operations
Customer support and service tools are generally cloud-native and are powered by cutting-edge technology like AI and ML. This enables you to cater to customers while on the go, 24/7.
For instance, ticketing software can help acknowledge customer queries at any time of the day. Agents can view tickets on their mobile devices and can offer solutions from any place, anytime. Moreover, chatbots and live chat software are also some of the best examples in this regard.
● Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Consumers are 2.6x as likely to purchase more from a company after a 5-star experience compared to a 1- or 2-star experience. (Qualtrics XM Institute)
Creating loyalty with your customers through better, more proactive customer service ensures a greater customer lifetime value (CLV). Customer lifetime value is quite simply the revenue a loyal (repetitive) customer brings over time.
CLV = $10 (average sale) x 100 (annual visits) x 5 (years) = $5000
It is one of the most important metrics to track. It offers insights into a business’s long-term sustainability and financial viability. Higher CLV indicates product-market fit and recurring revenue from existing along with brand loyalty.
How to choose the right customer service software for your small business
Here are some key points to consider while choosing a customer service software:
● Must-have features: Since there are multiple customer support software, the bundle of features would vary based on the kinds of software you pick. However, always keep an eye on the following: email tracking and automation, activity reporting, sales dashboard and reporting, mobile accessibility, automatic dialer with text capability, call analytics, easy integrations, and contact management.
● Free trial: A free trial is a great way to see if the tool is made for your business, always give your tool a test run.
● Customer Support: See if it is easy to reach out to customer support and if the quality of their support is good. Quite ironically, the customer support of many customer support tools wouldn’t be what you’d expect.
● Rating: Always run through sites like G2, Trustpilot, Clutch.io, etc. to read first-hand user experiences.
To Summarize
Investing in customer support software like a helpdesk, CRM, ticketing, chatbot, and live chat can help small businesses scale faster. It helps them offer efficient and proactive customer support. It allows them to make data-driven decisions, on the go, and more – all of which leads to happy customers and a happier business.
