Customer Service

Is Your (Lack of) Customer Service Costing You Profits?

Can you really afford to deliver a lacklustre customer experience in this turbulent market? We provide tips on how you can deliver a top-tier customer experience while keeping costs low.

February 2, 2023

Consumers are more cautious with their money than ever– mostly due to the high cost of living and other expenses that are creeping in. Can you really afford to deliver a lacklustre customer experience in a market like this? In our experience, if a customer is met with a subpar experience, they’ll go elsewhere.

In a recent article by The Guardian UK (linked below), they’ve uncovered that poor customer service is costing businesses in the UK £11.4 billion a month in lost productivity.

Their research shows that there are more customer service issues than ever– and in turn, more staff and resources required to solve these issues– which, on average, are costing them a full work day a week.

For your business, that’s not only an increase in operating costs but a very real risk of losing future business and damaging your reputation. 

So what is the root cause of this? When did it truly begin? And how do we fix it? This article seeks to answer those questions and give you a sound strategy to avoid lost revenue and stand out from the crowd with top-tier customer service.

A Major Shift in Customer Service Standards

Before the pandemic, we were in what could be argued as a golden age of customer service. But that took a massive hit, and standards slipped when the world ground to a halt. As we all adapted to an online usage surge during the pandemic, we also quickly saw that the digital channels on websites and apps weren’t ready for the drastic and sudden increase in demand. 

In the wake of this, most consumers immediately experienced– and, in turn, started getting used to– what would typically have been considered a subpar customer service experience. Things that were unheard of previously became the norm. For example:

  • Excessive hold times (phone and chat).
  • Longer than ever response time on emails. 
  • Constant shipping delays.
  • All the effects of a company being short-staffed. 

Usually this would be unheard of, and there would be a significant backlash from most customer bases. However, when we were surviving the pandemic together, there was a sense of camaraderie and understanding. Everyone in the world was coming together, and through that solidarity, they were happy and grateful to be able to make online purchases and keep safe at home.

But what happened when the pandemic ended?

What's Behind the Decline in Customer Satisfaction?

In the wake of the pandemic, Customer Service slowly started to creep back up to what it once was– or at least tried to. The truth is, it’s never fully recovered for many reasons. 

Combining what happened during the pandemic, constant staffing issues, the rising costs of virtually everything, the effects of Brexit, ongoing strikes, and more, how could it recover

These issues have created a perfect storm that has caused– and continues to cause– companies to lose billions.

Many companies are doing all they can to meet a basic level of customer service nowadays. A “customer satisfaction index” published in a recent article by the UK Institute of Customer Service (ICS) showed some troubling results. The study found that customer satisfaction has been dropping year over year, with almost 17% of consumers reporting issues with a brand.

Can you really afford to deliver a lacklustre customer experience in this turbulent market? We provide tips on how you can deliver a top-tier customer experience while keeping costs low.
Can you really afford to deliver a lacklustre customer experience in this turbulent market? We provide tips on how you can deliver a top-tier customer experience while keeping costs low.
February 2, 2023

So What Can We Do to Fix It?

We’ll talk about a few ways to combat poor customer service so you can begin seeing improvements as soon as possible.

1. Customers Will Pay for Better Service

The first one might surprise you. Did you know that even with the rising cost of living, research shows that more than one-third of customers are willing to pay more for quality? Hot food, reliable service, quick shipping, and fast answers are just some things people are willing to pay more for.

Let’s look at it this way: what would you rather pay for? A full day of employee pay per work week for them to fix problems? Or would you rather use that money to provide a great customer service experience in the first place and increase sales? According to the Guardian’s research, the companies who are staying on top of their satisfaction scores are actually 10% more profitable.

2. Take a Proactive vs. Reactive Approach

When we think of customer service, it’s easy to think of the customer taking the first move. Most people associate customer service with ‘fixing an issue.’ But customer services can (and should) be so much more than that.

Taking a proactive approach, you can assist the customer before an issue arises and even upsell and increase revenues. By asking simple questions like:  

  • Did you find everything you need today?
  • Is there anything you have questions about?
  • That product is out of stock, but we have this similar option in stock?

You can engage the customer during their buyer journey, build trust, and head off any issues before they occur. Having an ongoing conversation can also be helpful if the customers run into things like coupon codes not working, checkout issues, or site errors. They can ask for help.

Great customer experience will almost always leave a lasting impression on your buyers. This is the best way to turn curious site visitors into brand advocates. 

But all of this sounds costly. Well, not really.

3. Scaling in the Right Areas

It can be easy to see your company from your perspective, but it’s important to frequently audit and inspect your customer journey. By going through the same process as your site visitors, you can identify friction points and come up with questions they may have or challenges they might face.

Ideally, you would have live chat with an agent able to guide each customer, but if you’re looking to scale and keep costs down, here are a few methods that can work.

Have your live agents only on your most popular, best-selling, or even high-ticket items. 

You can also have the most common elements of the customer journey guided by a chatbot to help with frequently asked questions (where’s my order, shipping costs, etc.)

A perfect mix of the two is having some elements of the customer journey guided by a chatbot, with an agent on hand to be ready to jump in with more complex situations. 

If any of that sounds like something you’re interested in but are unsure where to get started, let’s chat. We’re happy to help.

4. Be Available 24/7

We all want to be available to our customers when they need us, right? But that sounds rather costly and difficult to implement. Well, it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how you can use technology and strategy to pull this off at a price that makes sense.

Chatbots

The beauty of having a chatbot is that it can be active 24/7, never has to sleep, and doesn’t need time off. It can meet fluctuations in demand seamlessly while keeping your costs fixed. 


Managed Live Chat

Humans will most often prefer dealing with humans, so you can still consider having live chat agents 24/7 without the headache of managing a team in-house. How? With our managed solutions. We have an expert team of seasoned live agents who are:

  • Native-English speaking.
  • A true extension of your team.
  • Highly trained (they go through a rigorous onboarding of your offerings).
  • Equipped to handle multiple chats at once.

Don’t find yourself settling for mediocre customer service, because your customers won’t. Rather than risk them going elsewhere, put in the resources and strategy to turn your site’s visitors into brand advocates 

(Special thanks to the Guardian UK: find the full article here.)

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