While every organization is different, it is universally true that it costs more to recruit a new customer than it is to sell to an existing customer. According to McKinsey² (link resides outside ibm.com), the cost of replacing the value of one existing customer requires finding and activating three new customers.

An effective customer service department can increase customer retention, thereby saving an organization money. In addition to retention, providing good customer service demonstrates stability to the larger business community. Investors and other stakeholders will take note if an organization is treating its customers well, which can be a sign that revenue growth will arise—or continue—in the future.

Initiatives that increase customer satisfaction by at least 20 percent have a cascading effect on other business outcomes, according to McKinsey² (link resides outside ibm.com). They can increase an organization’s cross-sell rates and the company’s share of the wallet.

Meeting customer expectations has become harder as the cost of switching brands or providers is cheaper today. Customers expect organizations to provide customized experiences or solutions at an affordable price. They have a low tolerance for anything that does not deliver value. It’s important to invest in and prioritize customer service to not only meet the needs of their existing customers but also recruit new ones.

Active listening: Half the battle of providing good customer service is often how quickly an organization can respond to requests. As customers increasingly vent their issues online through social media, chatrooms, or message boards, they expect nearly real-time responses. Organizations can use powerful tools to identify those issues and reach out quickly. The customer service representatives who respond do not necessarily need to solve the issue immediately; they need to acknowledge it has been received.

Proactive outreach: Most organizations consider customer service to be a major component of the overall customer experience function. One way CS can benefit from customer experience is by having the organization use email or other communication methods to reach out quickly after a new customer has purchased a product or service to assess the customer’s satisfaction.

Use the right tools: Companies should invest in robust customer relationship management (CRM) tools to track customer purchases, interactions with the customer support team and overall issues they have reported. CRM workflows help organizations better know who are their biggest customers and enable them to track overall purchases.

Learn from bad experiences: A customer who reports a new issue can give an organization valuable proactive feedback that can save the organization larger headaches later on. Smart organizations prioritize customer feedback directly after a product is launched as it might portend a potential defect or poor customer experience. It might need to recall those products or fix the issue early on, so future customers don’t have the same negative experience.

Invest in and train the call center: Organizations should invest in improving the customer service skills of their representatives, since they interact directly with customers. There is a whole host of subjects that these representatives must learn to stay current with changing customer behaviors. Examples include how to use social media channels to communicate with customers and how to use other technologies like generative AI. Representatives can also learn a lot through sensitivity, anti-bias and empathy training, so they are prepared to handle specific issues. They should also learn how to handle unruly customers who are angry about a particular incident or product.

Empower customer service workers: Organizations understandably want to centralize customer service responses to recurring issues. That way they can provide a consistent experience to every customer and avoid unnecessary friction in resolving customer issues. However, that can sometimes backfire if the response template doesn’t fit the specific customer issue or if there are extenuating circumstances. Organizations that excel at customer service know how to combine both standardization with employee decision empowerment. McKinsey provided an example of customer service representatives at DBS³ (link resides outside ibm.com) being empowered to solve any customer issue where the cost is less than USD 200.

Modern organizations must be able to cater to customers through various customer service channels to ensure positive customer experiences. These can include:

In-person: In-person communication happens when someone in a brick-and-mortar location asks to speak to a customer service representative or the manager. Some people will always want to resolve issues face-to-face, especially if their issue can be solved immediately while in store.

Phone calls: A call center is an important offering for those customers who still want to talk to a customer service representative but not in person. The rise of self-service and other automated channels has made phone calls more costly, so some organizations try to minimize this service. But making it difficult for people to use the channel they prefer might lead to more lasting negative consequences such as bad word-of-mouth or customer turnover.

Text messages: The rise of smartphones and messaging applications (e.g., WhatsApp) means that more individuals can text organizations directly. For some, this is the perfect channel because it creates immediacy while enabling customers to go about their days while waiting for a follow-up response.

Social media: This is an increasingly popular service channel as consumers believe that publicizing the issue makes the organization respond faster. The reason for this is that organizations are wary of creating lasting reputational issues. Indeed, many organizations have created specific social media profiles to handle customer service issues so their main accounts aren’t clogged up by requests and answers.

Self-service knowledge base: Organizations that provide knowledge bases full of information and tutorials and frequently asked questions (FAQs). This is to meet the needs of an increasing number of customers who prefer addressing their questions or issues without interacting with a human. Knowledge bases can include a mix of articles, graphics case studies, videos and audio.

Chatbots: The rise of generative AI will likely improve chatbots, making them appear more human-like and less likely to encounter issues they cannot solve. Older chatbots were tied to a finite number of scripts and were often not as successful in solving customer issues as humans.

Forums: These are places where customers can ask questions that are answered by customer service representatives or sometimes, by fellow customers. It’s a great way to provide personalized service by also encouraging customers to help each other.