You’d never want to let your customer down by being unavailable, would you? Having an out of hours service that works for you, is a win win situation for both yourself and your customers. A messing taking service can increase customer loyalty as it promotes a positive reputation to deal with customer inquiries more efficiently.
It’s only natural that most people, and probably including your own business, work on a 9-5 basis. So, when a customer wishes to make an inquiry outside of their office hours, it’s far from ideal when they aren’t able to. As a customer, you’d probably consider other options to get the inquiry dealt with.
However, if this customer is loyal to you, then they are less likely to seek a rival company if they are happy with your services.
Why is customer loyalty important?
Customer loyalty is defined as the act of choosing your company’s product over a competitor, even if your prices may be higher. A loyal customer isn’t swayed by availability and lower pricing, as they are more than satisfied with the level or service they are currently receiving. This customer is more likely to return to your services time and time again, and also recommend to others.
Having regular and loyal customers are basically the basis of your business. They increase your profit, give your company a good name and are the glue of keeping business constantly flowing.
However, in order to keep your customers loyal, you need to ensure you are providing the best services possible.
A key point here is your accessibility to a customer. If a customer needs to contact you outside of your business hours, you still want to make sure this can be dealt with in an effective manner. And one way to promote this idea, is a messaging taking service (here’s how ours works).
Utilising a call answering service
By having a method in place to take out of hours messages, you will potentially never let your customer down in their time of need. With live receptionists around the clock 7 days a week, no customer will go unnoticed and will be left feeling positive about their query.
The staff are trained to the highest quality in their industry, with experience across numerous sectors. In addition to this, you will always have your own personal accounts manager on hand, with an extensive knowledge of your business. This provides a smooth service and any further support that may be needed.
This is all for peace of mind, so you know that your customers are always being looked after, on and off the clock.
And let’s face it, customers always expect you to be available.
With today’s society being highly technological, most platforms are accessible in the forms of twitter, live web chats and s on. Having a call answering service is one step ahead of the game here. You aren’t waiting for someone to type back on a screen, but you’re getting the opportunity to engage with someone over the phone.
This can also be said for customers who maybe don’t use forms of technology and would prefer this over the phone interaction.
There really are endless advantages of having a message taking service for your customer loyalty.
The benefits for your business
As said before, promoting customer loyalty and benefiting your business really go hand in hand. The more loyal clientele base you build up, the more potential that your business will thrive.
With making it easier for customers to contact you, will encourage your reputation as an accessible company.
Rather than having to take time during their lunch breaks, or being on hold during that 9-5 period, they can be at ease knowing that they are able to contact you any time of day. The flexibility of this can give your customers faith in what you do, therefore allowing them to return in future, which overall increases potential profit.
Furthermore, to this point, the increase of profit correlates with fewer missed calls. For example, if a new (or existing) customer were to call out of hours and it was missed, this a customer potentially lost, however, with a message taking service in place, this encourages the level of new business.
Speaking of new business, if this is the case for your new company, by showing customers you are available 24/7 represents a real level of professionalism. Being constantly accessible is telling your customers that you invest in areas that benefits them.
Giving your customers what they need, to ensure their loyalty, is a great basis to maximise profit.
Related questions
How do you track customer loyalty?
In order to know that your customers are in fact loyal, there are methods of finding out what they think of your services and how likely they are to recommend to a friend.
This can be done using a Net promoter score (NPS) which uses a survey rating certain aspects of your services on a scale of 1-10. Scores of 9 and 10 represent that individuals would promote your services and refer to a friend. If scores are lower, you can also include comment sections to improve your services.
How to maintain customer loyalty?
This can be an expansive topic, as there are many avenues to explore in order to maintain customer loyalty. It’s always important to look after your existing customers, as well as your new ones. A few points to consider when maintaining loyalty can range from the following:
- Consistence of employees’ approach
- Mystery shoppers for checking purposes
- Being resourceful
- Staying in touch
- Under promise and over deliver
- Credibility
- Accessibility
- Rewards
- General attitude
