Customer service has become the ultimate decider on what is distinguishing a proper business from a beloved brand these days. Today’s consumers are raising the bar for brands when it comes to the types of interactions they have with them. They’re no longer putting up with outsourced customer service interactions. Instead, they’re demanding clear, accessible, and instant communications from the businesses they support. From being able to contact a company about a problem on social media or video calling with them about a question, consumers are asking for more from their brands. What they find impossible with one company, they head off and search for in another with a reputation for providing quality customer service.
As such, obtaining a reputation of being able to provide excellent customer service is becoming an essential aspect of the marketing method. In fact, when it comes to the buyer’s decision process, customer service is becoming the deciding factor. Because having a reputation for excellent customer service is outside the realm of a marketer’s control, businesses are beginning to pick up on the importance of merging the two together.
If your business has yet to capitalize on the benefits of customer service and marketing synergy, consider these five reasons on why you should integrate both into your marketing plan:
You Have The Same Goals
Marketing and customer service might appear to operate in completely different spheres, but at the end of the day, both have very similar goals. While marketing teams focus their efforts on pushing customers through a funnel, customer service works to retain those customers. As you work to align your brand’s marketing efforts with its customer service team, consider the fact that brands spend 6-7 times more on obtaining new customers than they do on retaining their existing clients. This demonstrates the importance of having a customer service team around to back the efforts of a marketing team. If you’re able to improve your retention strategy by including marketing through every touch point, you’ll have an easier time holding together your bottom line.
Customer Service Already Knows Who Your Buyers Are
As your marketing team implements strategies to clearly define the personas of your consumers and audience, connecting with customer service will be one of the most impactful steps. If you consider the departments of your business and who interacts with your consumers the most, customer service will always come out on top. Keep in mind that they’re in constant touch with their clients on the telephone, email and even social media. They, more than anyone on your team, will understand the intricacies of your audience’s thought processes on how they view your product and the purchase experience.
Customer Service Backs Your Brand
Your marketing initiatives will draw customers in by promising quality service and setting the tone for product expectations. Your customer service efforts, on the other hand, will be the ones who execute and put these concepts into practice. Failing to properly train and educate your client service team of your brand’s promises and expectations can be a setup for disaster once the team starts making crucial customer touch points. Remember, your customer service department has to make sure that they are always meeting and even surpassing the expectations of your clients. They’re the ones who ultimately deliver on the promises of quality services that the marketing department initially makes and sells to consumers.
Customer Service Agents Act As Ambassadors
Always think of your customer service team as the last internal representative force. This mindset is especially crucial to maintain because of the influence they have in reinforcing the brand values advertised by your marketing team. As customer service interacts with consumers, they should work to differentiate a business from their competitors and persuade customers into coming back in the future. Your customer service department should act as an extension of the marketing department, with a firm grasp of the ways in which marketers hope to address and interact with customers. It’s vital for this part of the team to always provide clients with an experience that stays true to a brand’s marketing messages.
Good Results Ride On Collaborative Communication
Open communication between both departments will be essential to keeping your brand’s messages on target. To ensure customer feedback is being heard and accounted for, customer service departments have to have an open line of communication with their brand’s marketing team. What’s also important, they have to be present to ensure external messages are adapting to the changing preferences and demands of customers. With the customer service team on the front lines, marketers can get a better understanding of what consumers are looking for and drawn to. More importantly, the customer service team will be able to alert marketers of any changes in these characteristics as soon as they occur.
