Why is customer service important in today's society?

Why is customer service important in today's society?

Customer service has always been important, although some companies realized that sooner than others. What a customer experiences when they contact a business for help can either strengthen the relationship or break trust, making the customer question why they're spending money with a brand that doesn't seem to care about them. Customers have been turning up the heat on businesses lately, demanding more from customer service and the experiences businesses deliver.

Multiple factors seem to be behind these demands to make customer service even more important in today's society, but one in particular really stands out - shifting consumer expectations.

Remember when consumers were easily satisfied with low prices or fancy product features? The rules were pretty clear for businesses then - compete on price or compete on product quality. And deliver customer service that was "good enough."

But in today's society, that's not enough. Low prices and great products are "table stakes." Consumers have come to expect them, so it's harder for businesses to differentiate based on price and product. Enter the experience economy.

"The customer experience is the next competitive battleground.” – Jerry Gregoire, former CIO at Dell

Consumers in today's society now expect businesses to consistently provide exceptional experiences, and those expectations keep growing. According to research conducted by Salesforce, 67% of customers say their standards for good experiences are higher than ever.

And the quality of customer service plays an important role in satisfying these standards. Provide great customer service and your business will be rewarded, but stumble and your customers are likely to move to a competitor. Our research backs this up - 89% of consumers are willing to buy more from businesses that provide exceptional customer service while 80% are willing to go to a competitor if the customer service doesn't meet their standards.

Switching to a competitor can be very simple and a motivated customer will find a way to do it even if it isn't so easy. The goal of every business should be to give every customer a reason to stay by delivering competent, trust-building, satisfying customer service all the time in every support channel.

So, perhaps a better way to phrase the question is "why is customer service more important than ever in today's society?" and the answer is because the customer expects it. Simple as that.