SYLVIANE NUCCIO

Customer service goes far beyond being nice to your customers; it’s essential to the day-to-day operations of your business and can affect your overall profits and how the public views your company.

Think about it: how quick are people willing to share their bad customer service experiences with others? And with social media so widely used, bad customer service experiences can go viral and put your company in a bad light from which you may never recover.

Knowing how important customer service is, you might wonder what is the best way to facilitate your customer service needs.

In this article, we look at why using answering services is the optimal tool to keep your customers happy and to offer them the support they need.

What Is An Answering Service?

Answering services handle the communications between the company and the customer. They can play many roles for the company, but most answering services are set up to either answer customer complaints directly, or send them to the appropriate department for the help they need.

While most answering services handle phone calls, some can be set up to deal with customer emails and text messages that come into the company.

Why An Answering Service?

Today, customer support isn’t really an option. With there being so much choice on the market, you have to do what you can to keep your customers feeling satisfied or they may jump ship.

For many medium-to-large-sized companies, 24/7 support is mandatory if you want to meet the needs of your customers who could be scattered across the country or even the world.

24/7 Support

The first reason you might need an answering service is to provide 24/7 customer service and support. In today’s business world, having support only available from 9 to 5 isn’t going to cut it.

You can rest assured that most of your competition is going to offer support outside of traditional business hours, so you have to as well if you want your business to stay competitive. Live customer support after hours is a great way to set yourself apart from other companies who haven’t realized the importance of offering this service.

It inspires more confidence in those who want to do business with you that you are a company that cares about providing high-quality customer service – no matter the time.

Stay on Top of Emails

Another reason to use an answering service is to stay on top of your continuous emails. If you have customers who talk to live support agents, having a system in place to automatically send out follow up emails to maintain communication is a great way to ensure higher customer satisfaction.

Emails can be sent out to give further instructions or to solicit feedback on the experience the customer had. Also, keeping in touch via email makes the customer more likely to call again when they need help because they know they’re being taken care of.

Cost Savings

If you’re a medium to large-sized company, you may find it costly to hire and train an in-house support center that meets your business needs. Contracting with an answering service is cost-effective and gives you the same capabilities as if you had an in-house staff.

Adaptability

Additionally, an answering service is more flexible than most in-house call centers. If your needs change, most answering services can quickly adapt and scale up or down as needed.

For example, during the holiday season, you may find yourself with a sudden influx of customer calls or emails. An answering service can assist you with this.

Healthier Bottom Line

Sure, you care about keeping your customers happy, but you also care about the bottom line too. The two aren’t mutually exclusive either. Top-notch customer service is key to maintaining profits and a healthy bottom line.

Customer service is key to keeping customers happy and coming back to your business. According to data provided by Forbes, “Of almost 1,000 customers pooled, 92% say they would stop purchasing from a company after three or fewer poor customer service experiences.”

Bottom line: If you care about your bottom line, provide top-notch customer service.

While people will always talk about their negative experiences, they’re also just as likely to talk about the positive ones too. Ensuring your customers are well taken care of through support is crucial to keeping them happy and maintaining good public relations. An answering service accomplishes this.

Increased Capabilities

As mentioned above, many of your customers don’t adhere to a traditional 9 to 5 schedule. They’re in different time zones and different parts of the world. Today, it’s not a question of whether you should offer 24/7 support — it’s expected. And if you don’t, people will go elsewhere if they can.

Answering services allow you to handle all of your company’s communications and dealings with customers any time day or night. Whether they’re making and taking phone calls or handling emails, it’s vital your company provides the help your customers need when they need it.

Regardless of what type of business you’re in, most will benefit from hiring an answering service. Today, with competition being so fierce, there’s no good reason not to have one.