How to Find and Keep a Loyal Customer Base
Having an after hours answering service is an important part of customer retention. Being able to reach the company that they need to at any time is a very attractive service for a business to offer. Especially if most of their products are sold online. Online shopping is a popular thing to do but some people are hesitant because they are not sure if the company is even legitimate at all. Knowing that you have somewhere to call and confirm what they need to is very comforting and may convince a skeptic to buy from you. Here are some other good reasons why an after hours answering service is always a good idea.
It prioritizes the customer.
When a business has an after hours answering service, it shows that they are putting the customer first every minute of the day. It’s a proven statistic that companies who are willing to put their customer service as their number one priority gain more than 60% in profits than competitors. This means that you have friendly voices at the other end of the line in a 24/7 answering service, customers will feel prioritized and will likely come back.
It gives customers a chance to call.
The problem with only being able to call a business during business hours is that people are usually working. Say you sell furniture and your customer orders a dresser. It arrives and then they come home from work to put it together. However, it appears that there are some pieces missing. This may not be a big deal but the customer cannot ever talk to anything while they are with the dresser. They can’t bring the dresser to work and by the time they get home, you are no longer available to call. An after hours answering service will allow the customer to get settled and see exactly what is missing before calling and reporting what happened.
They can talk to live people.
This is key. A recorded service or the frequently asked questions section on the website does not compare to a live operator answering service. Being able to speak to a real person is very important to customers. They can tend to have very customized answers that will not be answered in the way that they need it to be. This is why most people choose to skip the prerecorded message and speak directly with a representative. Even when you are chatting with someone online, it can be difficult to tell if they are a real person or not because they have to stick so strictly to a script. A live person gives a well rounded customer experience.
It makes it personalized.
The main problem with the world becoming so digital is that it is chipping away at personal relationships. It can make people uncomfortable with talking to one another and social awkward. Friends will go out in groups and end up sitting on their phones the whole night. Couples go on dates and don’t know how to hold a conversation without checking social media every few minutes. Being able to talk to a live person whenever needed at a certain company is a way to keep the personal touch in this technological world. Everyone is afraid of robots taking their jobs so it’s refreshing to speak to a live telephone answering service.
They can get answers immediately.
Most people will abandon a considered purchase if they cannot get questions answered right away. If you give customers an opportunity to call and get through right away and talk to someone about their concerns then you will likely make a lot more money. You will lose more money but customers walking away than you would in hiring a 24 hour telephone service to take calls overnight and on weekends.
The competition is always just a click away when you are on online business. This is why it is so important to make sure you are doing everything you can to ensure that customers get what they want and need, when they want and need it. If you can make someone feel important and appreciated, they will most likely return again and again and become a loyal customer.
