In today’s competitive landscape, customer service is a key differentiator and its impact on sales cannot be overstated. Businesses that prioritise exceptional customer service experience higher revenue than their competitors. This is true in every industry, from retail, to hospitality, B2B, trades, and call centres. Understanding and measuring customer service is crucial for increasing customer loyalty and achieving sustainable sales growth. What gets measured, gets improved.
The Link Between Customer Service and Increased Sales
All touchpoints between a business and its customers contribute to forming perceptions, building trust, and influencing future purchases. Therefore, sales success hinges on excellent customer service. We know that satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend the business to others, leading to increased sales and brand advocacy. So companies that prioritise customer service gain a competitive edge and increase their chances of long-term success.
Why Measure Customer Service?
Business can improve what they can measure. Customer service measurement enables businesses to quantify the impact of their current customer service policy and monitor the efficacy of new initiatives. In addition to highlighting potential pain points, it can also identify what works. This insight allows businesses to enhance the overall customer experience through fine-tuning their service delivery.
How Do You Measure Customer Service?
Mystery Shopping Program:
By strategically deploying carefully chosen mystery shoppers, businesses can objectively evaluate all service stages. The service stages span the quality of interactions, adherence to standards, sales techniques, focal points, and overall ambiance. Mystery shoppers are given detailed instructions and observe from a customer’s point-of-view, while also aware of the business’s KPIs. These observations offer a comprehensive and unique view of the customer journey and the current customer service standards.
Additionally, leveraging mystery shopping to gather firsthand data empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions and implement targeted training programs for their staff. Above Benchmark specialises in designing and executing custom mystery shopping programs to help businesses elevate their customer service standards and drive exceptional experiences.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT):
CSAT measures a customer’s satisfaction level with a product or service. By collecting feedback through surveys with real customers, businesses can identify areas for improvement and gauge overall customer satisfaction.
Social Media:
Businesses can monitor and analyse various aspects of customer interactions on social platforms to gauge the effectiveness of customer service efforts. This isn’t limited to the social profiles of the business itself, but mentions and feedback can be tracked.
Reviews:
Customer reviews are also a valuable way to measure customer service as they provide direct feedback from people who have experienced the service firsthand. Positive reviews can be recognition of excellent customer service, while negative reviews may highlight areas where changes or adjustments are needed. However, reviews are more of a reactive metric than a preventive one, like mystery shopping and CSAT programs.
What Should You Measure?
Every Stage of the Customer Journey Map:
Businesses should be aware of every stage of their customer’s journey, throughout each touchpoint, from initial online research, right through to decision and purchase. Once aware of the customer journey, customise mystery shopping and CSAT surveys to follow that journey and ask specific questions to qualify the customer experience.
Flashpoints:
Flashpoints in your customer service can be on either end of the scale, but both are just as important. An example flashpoint may be a location where the staff regularly miss opportunities to suggest add ons, or it could be the opposite, a highly performing location. Businesses benefit from realising and acknowledging both ends of the scale. Measuring flashpoints is a quick and easy way to identify these potential problems and resources.
Net Promoter Score (NPS):
NPS evaluates customer loyalty by asking one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” This metric provides insights into customer advocacy and helps businesses understand their brand perception. Businesses can use NPS in a mystery shopping program and also CSAT.
Customer Effort Score (CES):
CES measures the ease of customer interaction with a company. Reducing customer effort can lead to improved customer satisfaction and ultimately drive sales through enhanced customer experiences. To achieve an inverse effort relationship maximise staff effort in order to decrease customer effort. The less friction a customer has with your business, the more likely it will become a must in their lives. A Customer Effort Score question can add another layer of data and understanding in mystery shopping and CSAT programs.
Customer Attrition:
By tracking customer attrition rates, businesses can identify areas of dissatisfaction or trends and take proactive measures. Understanding the reasons behind customer attrition can help companies make improvements in their products, services, or customer service processes to better meet the needs and expectations of their customers.
In conclusion, measuring customer service is not just about tracking metrics; it’s a strategic approach to enhancing sales performance, driving customer loyalty, and fostering brand advocacy. Adopt a culture of continuous improvement by regularly measuring your customer service and refining customer service strategies. Take the first step towards measuring your customer service to unlock the full potential of your business.
For more in-depth insights and guidance on customer service measurement and its impact on sales, explore Above Benchmark’s comprehensive resources and blog articles and contact us to elevate your customer service strategy.
